Waiting
by 0utfoxed
Summary: After two years, Cloud finally works up the nerve to ask Yuffie out on a date. But as they start to explore a relationship that they had both been longing for, a string of calamities conspires to keep them apart. Bad weather, monster outbreaks and arrest warrants are only the beginning of their troubles. Some days, it seems like the whole world is standing between you and love.
1. The Answer

_Waiting for the winds of change  
__to sweep the clouds away.  
__Waiting for the rainbow's end  
__to cast its gold your way.  
__Countless ways  
__you pass the days._

_Waiting for someone to come  
__and turn your world around.  
__Looking for an answer  
__to the questions you have found.  
__Looking for an open door._

_Well, you don't get something for nothing.  
__You can't have freedom for free.  
__You won't get wise with the sleep still in your eyes,  
__no matter what your dreams might be._

-Rush, 'Something for Nothing'

**Waiting  
**

**Chapter 1  
****The Answer**

* * *

"..while you're waiting for moments that never come," Yuffie murmured.

"What?" Cloud said. He had been close to sleep, when her sudden comment brought him back to the waking world.

"It's nothing.." she said, planting a kiss on his cheek. "Go back to sleep."

The young girl curled up against her lover, pulling the bedcovers closer as she rested her head on his shoulder. Outside, the cold wind howled, and the snowstorm showed few signs of abating.

She wondered how they had gotten here. A few days ago, it seemed that they had done little other than hover around one another, pretending that they didn't notice each other's presence. They had simply been drifting through life. Waiting.

Waiting for what?

And why had they been waiting for so long?

The answer could wait for a better time, she decided, as she drifted off to sleep. Perhaps the answer wasn't so important, after all. The question had been raised, and they were happy together.

For now, that was all that mattered.

* * *

**A few days earlier..**

It was a sweltering summer day, and the Avalanchers were gathered inside a refurbished 7th Heaven, which had become the group's unofficial headquarters since the end of the Meteor crisis. The place had been put together from bits and pieces salvaged from the original establishment that they had somehow, miraculously, recovered from the wreckage of Old Midgar. The new bar was quite a bit more spacious and a whole lot cleaner than it had been back in the day, but it retained the same congenial atmosphere as the old one. The back shelves were stacked with drinks, the corner with a working jukebox, and the upper floor was furnished with bedrooms, allowing the place to double as a rest stop for the group when needed. It was a good place to rest one's feet at the end of the day, in pleasant company and with a cold drink in hand. All things told, it was hard to beat a bar when it came to a base of operations.

Yuffie was seated at one of the tables, doodling away on a piece of paper. She wasn't a very good artist. In fact, her work might very well be mistaken for one of Marlene's sketches. But she enjoyed it nonetheless, and perfection was the last thing she was aiming at.

She was spending more and more time in Midgar as of late, mainly because her father had once again excommunicated her from Wutai, this time for accidentally burning down the top floor of his beloved pagoda. And though she had firmly stressed "accidentally", she knew that there wasn't much point in going back home until her father's blood pressure returned to normal levels.

Normally, she would be out and about, wandering through the city streets, but today she didn't feel like it. There was something keeping her in place. It wasn't boredom, exactly, nor idleness, or, perish the notion, _thoughtfulness, _but rather a sense that she was waiting for something, though for what, she couldn't tell. A sense of aimlessness, perhaps.

Yes, that was probably it.

Lately, the young ninja had been given to a lot of aimless wandering and fruitless perambulations, and she was far from the only one. The world was largely back on its feet again, which left the Avalanche crew with little to do, save from assisting with the reconstruction effort, or handling the occasional monster infestation. There simply wasn't much demand for a band of rogues like themselves during peace time, least of all a rogue with a penchant for five finger discounts like herself. So she, too, was simply left drifting for the time being.

She briefly contemplated the various relationships in which she had become entangled over the past two years, following the end of the Meteor crisis. With her continual banishments from home, the company of friends was most welcome. Tumultuous as her early relationship with the rest of Avalanche had been, she felt that they were the only group of people who understood her, and that she could easily get along with. And disparate thought the group's different elements might be, they were all ultimately bound by the same question: How to settle back into a normal life, a life of peace, following a war that, for most of them, had lasted for as long as they had drawn breath.

There was always the road, of course, but they all had the sense that whatever adventures they might find, they would be mild in comparison to the one they had all been through together two years ago.

Most of them did what they could to busy themselves with work, or whatever occupations or hobbies they had planned to pursue before their battle with Shinra and Sephiroth had interceded. Cid went on with his mechanical tinkering, Red with his planetary studies and so on. Yuffie had suggested that she might be able to improve upon Cid's new line of airships with a few tweaks and snips to the wires here and there. His reply had been something she had heard all too often before in her life:

"Grow up, Yuffie."

Growing up. Now, there was a notion that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. The last time she had seen her father, before setting out on the journey that would lead to her joining up with Avalanche, he had told her that it was time for her to 'grow up and settle down'. She'd retorted by calling him an old goat, along with some less savoury names, then told him to get stuffed, before storming out of the Kisaragi household. Their falling out wasn't anything new. Butting heads with her father was pretty much routine as far as things went. Godo Kisaragi was argumentative by nature, and his daughter had inherited every last vestige of that trait. Rows like these were simply a part of the rubric of family life back in Wutai.

And now that balance had been restored to the world, that demand was slowly creeping back into her life again. 'Grow up and take your place in the grand scheme of things'. She could stave off her father's tentative attempts to get her to take up more 'mature' pursuits. But she couldn't help growing up.

Her materia hunting days were likely over, at least in any serious capacity. She figured she would probably continue to collect rare orbs that were of particular interest to her, but the obsessive and indiscriminate hoarding that she had undertaken two years ago seemed superfluous, even childish, now that the world was safe and her country's future was secured. She still maintained an interest in collecting them, of course, but it wasn't a life or death matter to her any more. It just didn't seem that important to her to own every last one that she could get her hands on. It was strange, how her old fixation seemed somehow immaterial, now that she'd had time to reflect upon it.

Gazing out the window, she realized that it was nearly dusk. Everyone had left for some function or gathering, or had an obligation to fulfill somewhere else around town, and they likely wouldn't be back for a day or two. The only people left were her, Cloud, and Tifa. She suspected that Barret was hanging around somewhere, but she hadn't seen him all day. He likely hadn't yet forgiven her yet for replacing his prosthetic hand with a giant electric toothbrush the week before, for April Fools'. It had been, in her estimation, absolutely worth it, as she was left rolling around on floor, laughing, while the realization dawned upon the big man. The look on Barret's face told her that he was not similarly amused. She continued to guffaw while he attempted ineffectually to shake his fist at her, which only served to magnify the absurdity of the situation.

Playing pranks on the other members of Avalanche was usually fun, though hardly something to make a living out of. Their reactions to her pranks varied from mild annoyance to sheer umbrage, depending on who her chosen victim was, and how severe the consequences of her practical jokes turned out to be. There was only one member of Avalanche who didn't rise to her shenanigans at all. The first time she had pulled a big one on him, he had simply gone along with it. She had swapped out Cloud's buster sword for a life-size toy replica that she had made. Unfortunately, later that day, they happened to encounter a larger-than-average clutch of monsters, and he'd had to tackle his share of them with the toy sword, which he did with admirable bravado, given his handicap. Once the battle was concluded, he had simply switched back to the genuine article. He never raised the subject that day. In fact, he had never spoken of the incident at all, though Yuffie knew he could hardly have missed her little switcheroo.

She wondered if it was simply stoicism on his part, or whether he was secretly trying to get one over on her by deliberately ignoring her prank. Maybe, she thought, he had just wanted to give the monsters a fair chance, for once. _"Or maybe.."_

Or maybe he simply liked her too much to give her a hard time over it.

_"Nah, couldn't be.."_

She observed Cloud, who was standing behind the bar, polishing glasses and arranging them back on the rack behind the counter. He didn't seem to know what to do with his newfound freedom, either. He had no relationship to pursue, no family to speak of, and few ties keeping him anywhere, save for those with his Avalanche buddies. He did his best to assist with the reconstruction efforts, of course, and did odd jobs and deliveries from time to time. But he had no real plans for the future, as far as she knew.

She knew that he and Aerith had had something between them in the past, but that hadn't worked out, for obvious reasons. That only left one possible outcome. After the dust had settled, he and his childhood friend, Tifa, were left standing, bruised but not beaten. The two of them deserved to be happy, everyone figured, but for some reason things had never quite clicked for the two of them. People had just sort of expected that the two of them would finally gravitate towards one another, form a relationship, and that this would neatly tie up the last loose end in their lives.

But life wasn't always that simple, and things didn't always tie up so neatly. That last piece never did fall into place. The two of them remained good friends, but it was clear by now that they would likely never be more than that.

The whole affair reminded Yuffie of something that someone had once said to her. "You know what life is?" they had asked, before supplying the answer to their own question. "It's the things that happen while you're waiting for moments that never come."

Though the question had been directed at her in an unctuous and didactic manner, she could neither shake nor dispute its conclusion.

She knew that Tifa was dating again, though she didn't know whom. Despite what some more churlish sorts might have suggested about her, she wasn't one to kiss and tell. She seemed happier, at any rate, perhaps relieved now that she was no longer burdened by other people's expectations of what to do with her life. As for Cloud, he simply busied himself with his work. If he felt even the slightest bit lonely, or upset by the dissolution of their relationship, he didn't show it. Then again, he wasn't one to make grand displays of emotion.

Tifa looked to be on her way out, leaving just her and Cloud tending to the bar, which was otherwise deserted. There had been no patrons that day, and the likelihood of any materializing was growing smaller by the minute, so there was little reason for them to keep the place open all night.

"All right, I'm off," Tifa said. "Can you guys close down the bar for me?"

"Sure," Cloud said.

"No problem," Yuffie said.

Cloud finished arranging the last of the glasses on the rack, then switched the back light off. He walked over to the jukebox, which was busy spitting out old rock and roll tunes, and pulled out the plug in the back. Wiping the dust from his hands with the bar cloth, he headed into the back storeroom to tally their remaining supplies.

"Guess it's just you and me, huh, Spikes?" Yuffie said, without looking up. She examined her doodle, an intricate little world of squiggly blobs and malformed buildings. Without realizing it, she had started sketching the blond swordsman into her drawing, a crude stick figure standing next to one that looked conspicuously like herself, alongside a square house and a crimson dog-thing which might have been Red XIII. Her cartoon masterpiece was as finished as was going to get, being that she had exhausted all possible spaces in which to draw anything. Drumming her fingers on the table, she let her thoughts wander once more.

She glanced over at Cloud again, as he went about closing up the bar. She had sometimes entertained the possibility that there could be something between them. During their journey across the world, she had sometimes stolen glances at him while he slept, or watched him from afar, taking in that handsome face and those haunting blue eyes. She had long been infatuated with Avalanche's leader, though she had tried to put it down as a mere crush. But that was something that was supposed to fade quickly, and it hadn't. Two years after their initial encounter, that attraction was as strong for her as ever.

Deep down, she hoped that the attraction might be mutual. Perhaps they would find themselves travelling somewhere together again, and she might find the chance to let him know how she felt. And perhaps he would confess that he felt the same way about her. At least, that was what she liked to imagine.

_"But that would never.."_ she thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Cloud spoke up. She almost hadn't noticed as he came up to her.

"Hey.. uh... Yuffie," he said, hesitating. "Um, if you're not busy tonight... do you want to go out to see a movie, maybe?"

Cloud's hesitation struck her as odd. He actually sounded... timid. It was the strangest thing. She had seen him face down the most nightmarish of abominations without flinching, the kind of walking terrors that would send most sane men running for the hills. And she had stood right next to him as he squared off against a deranged demigod. But she had never seen him look so nervous, so uncomfortable in his own skin. It was almost like he was two different people. Intrepid god-slayer one moment, and the next... a shy, awkward kid.

It was quite the contrast. She'd seen him with murder in his eyes when they faced off against the one-winged angel, an icy look that, if she had not counted him among her friends, would have genuinely frightened her. It was hard to believe that it was the same person, but this schism in his personality was something that fascinated her. Felling monsters the size of skyscrapers? Not a problem. Asking a girl out? Jitters and nerves. She quickly filed this information in her head under "Cloud Strife's weak points", before returning to reality.

She was both surprised and more than a little flattered by his request, but as much as she wanted to simply leap out of her chair and shout "Yes!", she knew she couldn't let such a golden opportunity to make him squirm slip away. That imp on her shoulder was whispering in her ear again, telling her to be evil. Not much. Just a _little_..

"Hmmm..?" she replied, feigning innocence. "'Go out'?"

She stood up and walked over to him, thrusting her face forward, far beyond any notion of personal space, eyeing him with what she hoped looked like a perfectly innocent smile.

"You mean like... a date?" she asked, playfully emphasizing the last word. It was the right button to push. She could see his face slowly growing red, and his hand instinctively moving to the back of his head, as he pretended to scratch a non-existent itch, one of the tell-tale signs that he was nervous.

"... a _date_ date?" she asked, tiptoeing slightly to offset their difference in height.

"Um... well.. yeah. I guess.." Cloud managed.

If she laughed now, she realized, it would probably be more devastating to him than a thousand Supernovas. _"Well, at least I know his weak point..", _she thought. But she wasn't feeling that cruel. Not _today_, at least.

Yuffie finally unshackled the grin she had been holding back ever since he had first asked. She had just wanted to hear him say it, before she let him off the hook. "I'd love to!" she replied, a bit more enthusiastically than she had intended. In truth, she felt like bouncing up and down a little, but she restricted herself to just one slight hop, clasping her hands together as she jumped up.

"Really?" Cloud asked, with a mixture of surprise and relief.

"Yeah. We've been cooped up in here all day," she said. "Let's go."

Yuffie headed for the exit, before turning around. "Oh, wait," she said. "Just need to grab a couple of things. Be right back!"

"Okay," Cloud replied, watching the young ninja as she bolted upstairs and into one of the bedrooms.

Yuffie pulled a small knapsack out from under her bed. She hadn't brought much with her. Some people lived in a suitcase. For her, it was more like living in a backpack. She rifled through its contents, grabbing her cell phone and what money she had brought from home, which wasn't much. Her standing in the world, her father had once informed her, ensured that she wouldn't go hungry, but neither would she waltz out of Wutai with the entire family fortune. It was true. She had tried it once, only to discover one of life's disappointing truths: Gold was _heavy_.

She looked at herself in the mirror for a second. No time for make-up, she thought. Not that she usually bothered with it, but tonight was becoming something of a special occasion.

_"Ah, well... it's not like I saw this coming," _she thought. Spur-of-the-moment was more exciting than planning the whole thing, anyway, she figured.

She hurried back downstairs. "You ready?" she asked. Cloud nodded, and they exited the bar, the last of the day's sunlight hitting them in the eye as they walked down the steps of the 7th Heaven.

"Can we take your motorcycle?" Yuffie asked.

"Sure," Cloud replied.

"Cool. Can I drive?" she asked.

Cloud paused, giving her a dubious look that said 'not if we both live to be a thousand'.

Yuffie shrugged. "Worth a shot," she said. She had expected as much. The Fenrir and its controls were sacrosanct as far as Cloud was concerned, and the chance of anyone else driving it anywhere were as remote as that of swine taking flight.

"You sure you're okay to ride?" Cloud asked as they mounted his bike. "What with your motion sickness and all.."

"Yeah, I just get sick on airplanes," Yuffie replied. "...And trains. And cars. And submarines. But I'm pretty sure motorcycles are okay."

Her companion gave her another dubious look.

"Well, we won't know until we try, right?" she added.

"Right," Cloud replied.

She paused for a moment, thinking. "Wait," she said. "Didn't you have motion sickness, too?"

"I'm fine, unless someone points it out to me," Cloud said.

"You mean, you don't get sick unless someone points out to you that you _should_ be?" Yuffie asked.

"Something like that," Cloud replied.

"Weird," Yuffie said. She had heard of and witnessed plenty of strange things in her life, but Cloud's amnesiac motion sickness had to come near the top of the list.

Cloud shrugged. "Hold on," he said, turning the key in the ignition. Yuffie wrapped her arms around his waist. The Fenrir's engine roared as they took off down the road, driving down Midgar's crowded streets.

* * *

As the city was still in the process of being rebuilt, there weren't many movie theaters being operated in Midgar, infrastructure being a more important concern for its citizens than entertainment, so they had to drive clear across town in order to locate one.

Yuffie strolled down the movie theater's foyer, pulling Cloud along by the arm as she browsed the various movie posters. "Hmm..." she said, examining the description underneath one of the posters. "'The Man Who Would Be God'," she read. "'A brilliant but eccentric scientist unleashes deadly terrors upon the world's population in a bid for ultimate power'."

The young ninja rolled her eyes. "Seen it."

The two of them pressed on, moving onto the next poster. "'Night of the Walking Terrors'," Yuffie read.

"A monster movie?" Cloud said. "You'd think that everyone would be sick of monsters by now."

Yuffie shrugged. "Maybe they figure it's funny when it's not happening to them."

"I guess," Cloud said. "Still, I don't know about you, but I think I've seen about enough _real_ monsters to last me a lifetime."

"Yeah, you're right," Yuffie said. "How about a comedy?"

"Sounds good," Cloud said.

"Let's see.." Yuffie said, reading the synopsis underneath the next movie poster. "'Three's a Crowd: A hilarious romantic comedy about a man caught up in a love triangle between two of his co-wor..'"

She paused, seeing the wilted look on her date's face. "Uh... never mind."

* * *

After some deliberation, they had finally settled upon the monster movie. None of their choices were particularly appealing, and almost all of them were re-runs from years back, since most of the movie theater's stock had been lost in the battle for Midgar.

The film itself was bawdy and cheesy as hell, a B-movie with an embarrassingly large budget, filled with wooden actors and leaden dialogue. All that was missing was the zippers running up the monsters' backs. On a normal day, Cloud would have cringed at their choice. But tonight he didn't mind. He could barely pay attention to the movie at all. All he could think about was the girl sitting next to him.

She seemed to be enjoying herself, chortling whenever one of the movie's obnoxious characters got gobbled up by some weird monster or another. They were about halfway through the movie, and they had finished most of their popcorn and soda. Yuffie had her hand on the arm rest between them. Moment of truth, Cloud thought. It was time for him to make his move. She would either accept his gesture and return it in kind, or reject it, give him a look that said 'creep', and they would spend the brief remainder of their date in awkward silence.

_"Here goes nothing.."_ he thought, placing his hand atop hers.

To his relief, she did not rebuke his gesture, but turned to look at him, taking her eyes off the screen for a moment, a brief, surprised smile crossing her features. She turned her hand over, interlocking her fingers with his. It took them a moment to realize that they were both still wearing gloves, keeping them from actually feeling each others' touch. It was probably out of habit, but he was still wearing the leather gloves that he used for protection while driving, and she still had on her fingerless gloves, which she relied upon for climbing and other stealth-related activities. They both laughed at this, removed their gloves, then held hands again. Yuffie leaned over to his seat, resting her head on his shoulder. Cloud relaxed in his seat as well, relieved to find that the attraction he felt for the young ninja was indeed mutual.

Their little display had caught the attention of the other moviegoers. "Down in front," one of them shouted. "Get a room," another one called from somewhere behind them.

Annoyed, Yuffie threw some popcorn at the moviegoers heckling them. "Hey!" one of them shouted. Yuffie shot him a dirty look, before tossing the whole popcorn bucket at him. She and Cloud were just getting to a comfortable point with one another, and she wouldn't have anyone interrupting their date, certainly not at this moment.

The two louts behind them quieted down, and they resumed their embrace. Cloud was mainly glad that their little encounter had not escalated into a full-on confrontation. Though he had little doubt as to what the outcome of that confrontation would have been, the last thing they needed was to be permanently booted from Midgar's entertainment district for causing havoc.

* * *

About an hour later, the film's credits were rolling up the screen, and the two of them exited the theater along with a crowd of roughly two hundred people. As they reached the parking lot, Yuffie paused, patting her pockets. "Damn... I can't find my.." she muttered.

"What is it?" Cloud said.

"Um, could you call my phone for me?" Yuffie asked.

"Sure," Cloud said, dialling her number. The two of them followed the sound of her cell phone, heading back inside the theater, the chime coming from somewhere in between the auditorium's seats.

"Thanks," she said, picking up her phone. "Must've fallen out of my pocket."

"So, how about dinner?" Cloud asked, as the two of them headed back outside.

"Sounds great," Yuffie said. "I'm starving."

After wandering through the market district for a while, they finally found a place that was just right, not too formal, and not too casual. A place where you could enjoy a good meal in peace without being assaulted by a wine list longer than the main menu. Soft jazz played in the background, and waiters and waitresses scuttled to and fro, speaking in hushed tones and working quietly and efficiently to take and deliver orders. The two of them felt a bit underdressed for the place, but there was little to be done about that.

"So, what are you going to do with the rest of your life?" Yuffie asked, as they dug into their meals. She raised the question casually, but Cloud could tell that she was serious about the answer. It was, after all, something that was on everyone's mind. With unlimited freedom came the problem of what to do with it.

"That's a good question," he replied.

"And?" Yuffie asked.

"Wish I had an answer," Cloud said, shrugging. "I guess I'll stick around Midgar for a while, help rebuild. After that..."

He paused, shaking his head. "I really don't know."

They ate in relative silence for a few moments, smoked salmon and capelli d'angelo, respectively. It was a refreshing change from the freeze-dried rations that they had gotten so used to during their journey. The food was quite good, but neither of them was able to fully focus on their meal. There were too many things on their minds right now. Too many questions, and too many considerations, not to mention the person sitting at the opposite side of the table.

"How about you?" Cloud asked. "You getting roped into Wutai's politics?"

"Gods, I hope not," Yuffie said. "Have you _seen_ our politicians? Those guys could bore slugs to death."

Though Wutai possessed a ruling council, which did its best to represent the will of the people, membership had, as long as she had known it, always been hereditary, not to mention male-dominated. She was something of a square peg in that regard. It had long chafed the older members of the council that Lord Godo could not remarry and sire a male heir for the Kisaragi line, which left her as the only viable heir to the throne. She liked the whole idea of it about as much as they did. But as much as she hated the thought of having to deal with the cantankerous fossils that made up Wutai's ruling class, she knew she couldn't ignore it forever.

"But... yeah," she added. "I'll have to go deal with all that noise, sooner or later. Hopefully later."

"What do you think you'll do?" Cloud asked.

"Well, I could always break up the council," Yuffie said. "Maybe turn Wutai into a republic."

"Giving up the crown, huh?" Cloud said.

"Just trying to avoid the work, really," Yuffie replied. "Someone else can worry about the politics. That stuff gives me a headache. I'd rather be travelling somewhere. Or with... someone."

She reached out for his hand, and Cloud returned the gesture. There was another brief lull in their conversation as they held hands, smiling at one another. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad, so long as they faced them together.

After a minute or two, they resumed their meals. "By the way..." Cloud said. "I've always wondered about something... What were you planning to actually do with all that materia once you'd stolen enough of it?"

"I prefer the term 'acquire'," Yuffie replied, clearing her throat.

"Okay, once you'd... _'acquired'_ enough of it," Cloud said. "What then?"

"Well..." Yuffie said. "The truth is, I was planning on selling most of it. Try to jump-start Wutai's economy, make the country less dependent on Shinra's hand-outs," she trailed off, picking away at the plate of pasta with her fork. "It sounds kind of stupid when I say it out loud.."

"I don't think so," Cloud said.

"You don't?" Yuffie asked.

He shook his head. "I think you were doing the right thing. Just maybe not in the right way."

He thought back to the time when she had run off with all of Avalanche's materia. At the time, he had been as angry with her as any of his companions, and he had told her flatly that he did not much care what her intentions had been. But over time, he had come to see things her way, even if he did not agree with her methods. Her little escapade had been tactless, brash and unconsidered, but it had ultimately come from purer motives than he would have expected from her.

"You always had your people's best interests at heart," he said. "It must be tough, having that kind of responsibility.."

Yuffie set her glass down, having finished her meal. Sensing that the conversation was getting serious, she decided to lighten the mood. "Come on, enough worrying about the future," she said. "Let's just focus on the now, okay?"

"Fair enough," Cloud said. "What do you want to do now?"

"Hmmm..." Yuffie said, reaching for the menu. "How about dessert?"

"Getting indulgent, are we?" Cloud said.

"We saved the world, didn't we?" Yuffie said, grinning. "I think we've earned a little indulgence."

"I suppose," Cloud replied. He couldn't help but smile, as well. Say what you would about Yuffie, her smile, when honest, was infectious, to say the least.

She placed the menu down on the table, indicating what she had in mind. One of those desserts designed for sharing. It was too big, and certainly too unhealthy, for any one person to consume.

Cloud gave her yet another dubious look. "'Waffle Ice Cream Mountain'? Are you _trying_ to kill me?" he joked.

"Nah. Not intentionally, anyway," Yuffie replied, tongue-in-cheek.

A few more minutes passed, as their order was being prepared.

"What do you want to do afterwards?" Yuffie asked, as they waited for their order.

"I didn't really have anything planned, but.." Cloud said. "I suppose we could drive around town for a bit, see what there is to do."

"Sounds fun," Yuffie replied.

"You're not feeling queasy?" he asked.

"Nope," Yuffie said. "Not even a little."

"Guess we finally found the right ride for you," he said. "You ever consider taking up biking?"

"Not while I've got people to chauffeur me around," she replied, winking at him.

Cloud raised an eyebrow as the frosted behemoth arrived at their table. It looked even bigger than it did in the menu.

_"Indulgence is going to be the death of me,"_ he thought.

* * *

Their plans to go joyriding were cut short by the ensuing rainstorm. The rain came down in heavy torrents, and the wind was picking up, to boot. Cloud, having finished scouting the traffic ahead, made his way back to the bus station where they had temporarily taken shelter from the rain. Apparently, there was some sort of blockade at Midgar's main route, causing major traffic jams throughout the city.

"The main road's a no-go," he said. "Traffic's backed up for miles."

"Doesn't look like this rain's going to stop anytime soon, either," Yuffie said, peeking out from under the bus stop's roof. The young girl held a wrinkled newspaper over her head as a kind of makeshift umbrella, shielding herself from the worst of the rain.

As if to confirm their predicament, a message alert came on Cloud's phone. _"'Bridge collapse near central highway. Zero casualties, but need all hands tomorrow for repairs.' __-Reeve", _it read.

"Great," Cloud said. "Well... I guess we could stop at an inn for the night," he suggested.

"Or a hotel," Yuffie pointed out.

"...Right," Cloud replied. He had forgotten that there were such things as hotels. Being on the road all the time, Avalanche hadn't had much choice of places to stay, other than tiny, cramped inns. Then again, what was a hotel but an inn with an army and a navy?

Passing through the nearby shopping district and the local arcade, they found a hotel near the northern public park. The hotel was very nearly booked up, leaving only one, rather expensive, suite. A few moments later, they were in their hotel room, drying off with the help of the hotel's complimentary towels. The suite was situated some twenty storeys up, and was fashioned with expansive plate glass windows, extending from floor to ceiling, giving them a magnificent view of the city. Through the pouring rain, they could see the city streets below, burning with brilliant lights, like neon fire. The once beleaguered Midgar was alive again with activity and vigour.

"You take the bed. I'll take the couch," Cloud said, as they settled into the room.

"Don't be silly," Yuffie said, sitting down on the hotel suite's sizeable bed. "There's room enough for both of us. Come on," she said, patting the side of the bed.

He sat down next to her. Another brief silence ensued between them, neither of them exactly sure what to say or do next. Being alone together was something they still weren't quite used to. At least, not in this way.

"So..." Yuffie said, clutching onto the sides of the bed, rocking her her legs back and forth idly.

"So.." Cloud replied.

"You know, I'm not feeling that tired," Yuffie said. "How about you?"

"Not really," Cloud replied.

"You wanna go do something?" Yuffie asked.

"Sure," Cloud said. "Doesn't look like the weather's letting up, though."

Yuffie thought about what to do for a minute. "Hey, how about that arcade downstairs?" she suggested.

"All right," Cloud said. "Let's go."

* * *

A few minutes later, they were down in the arcade district, one of the few places left where they could safely wander around without being deluged by the constant rain. The various arcades were brightly lit, bombarding them with flashing lights and noises, in stark contrast to the dark and quiet of the night surrounding them.

On the second floor of one of the arcades, near a balcony overlooking the exit, Yuffie spotted a moogle plushy inside one of the lucky catcher machines.

"Oh, I've always wanted one of those," she said.

"You know those things are designed to steal your money, right?" Cloud pointed out.

Yuffie shrugged. "I've got deep pockets," she replied. It wasn't true, exactly. She had earned and brought enough money with her to live comfortably, but not so much that she could squander it frivolously. That was the way she preferred it. Being dependent on hand-outs from home meant being dependent on the people back home, after all.

She slipped a gil into the machine, and took her best shot, catching the prize she had in mind. As the catcher's claw moved towards the chute, her prize slipped from its thin prongs, dropping back down into the patch of prizes and gifts.

"Drat," she said, slipping another gil into the coin slot. Same result. A few unsuccessful attempts later, she gave up the controls. "You wanna try?" she asked.

_"What the hell..."_ Cloud thought, taking the catcher's controls. _"Let's give it a go."_

Though he doubted that he would have much luck in this endeavour, he tried his best to capture his date's newfound object of desire. She held on to his arm, cheering him on as he wrangled the controls. A couple of times, the machine looked as though it was ready to finally give up the prize, only to drop it again at the last moment, forcing them to play on.

As the two of them continued to play, there was a bustle behind them, followed by people running and screaming, fleeing from the arcade.

"What's going on?" Yuffie asked.

It wasn't long before they spotted the problem. In the flashing strobe lights behind them, they could see the shape of a poltergoyle fluttering about, looking as though it had just escaped from one of the video game cabinets. The creature was a kind of giant bat, with skin as hard as stone, but alarmingly fast, despite its size and weight. They had faced a few like it before, during their travels, and knew that they were no joke. They weren't the deadliest of monsters, but frightening enough in their appearance that the arcade was now quickly becoming empty, its customers abandoning all thoughts of entertainment as they fled for safety.

The poltergoyle zoomed past them, swooping down to the exit below, smashing the top off the lucky catcher as it flew past. Outside, they could hear more screaming and cries of surprise, as the critter terrorized the arcade district.

Cloud leapt into action, quite literally, vaulting over the balcony, dropping down to the floor below, wrenching loose one of the steel pipes from the nearby railings as he landed. It was no sword, but it would do in a pinch.

"Hey, wait for me!" Yuffie called, as he went after the monster. But he was already out the exit.

"Great.." she muttered.

Yuffie wandered around the increasingly empty streets of the arcade district, trying to find out which way her date had gone. She scanned the alleys and corners, while people around her fled in every which direction. After a few minutes, her phone rang. Cloud's number.

"..Miss Kisaragi?" a woman's voice said.

"That's me," Yuffie said. "Who is this?"

"The name's Kelly. I'm calling on behalf of a friend of yours."

"How did you know to call me?" Yuffie asked.

"Your name was at the top of the dialled number list," the woman replied.

"Ah, right.." Yuffie replied. She paused, wondering why some strange woman was suddenly making calls from Cloud's phone. Had he lost it somewhere along the way?

"You know that poltergoyle that was rampaging through the arcade?" Kelly asked.

"Yes?" Yuffie said.

"Well, it appears that your friend stopped it.." Kelly explained.

"Oh," Yuffie said. "That's good."

"...with his head," Kelly finished.

"That's... ungood," Yuffie replied.

* * *

Back in the hotel room, Cloud was lying on the bed, holding an ice pack against his forehead. It was now well past midnight, the two of them having just managed to stumble back from the arcade district and into their room in time for him to crumple into a heap on the bed. Yuffie had asked him whether he wanted to go to a hospital instead, but he had insisted that he was fine. Mostly fine, anyway.

Yuffie sat on the bed next to him, trying to inspect the damage. "Are you okay?" she asked him again.

Cloud grunted his assent, but said nothing.

"How many fingers?" Yuffie asked, holding up two in front of his face.

"...Five?" Cloud ventured.

"Close enough," Yuffie said, shrugging.

The young ninja headed off the bathroom to freshen up, before returning to bed. "By the way..." she said, as she sat down again. "It was kind of nice to get away from it all, for once."

She looked out over the city, watching the rain as it cascaded against the tall windows. "I had a good time tonight," she said. "How about you?" she asked, turning back to him.

There was no answer.

"Cloud?" she asked. But the blond swordsman was already asleep.

Though it was raining outside, it was still altogether too warm for covers. Feeling tired, she switched off the lights, removing her boots and socks, placing them at the foot of the bed. She paused for a moment, then removed her headband as well, leaving it on the nightstand. She remembered that Aerith had once joked that it was almost a part of her forehead, since no-one had ever actually seen her take it off.

It was a shame that their first date had been cut short by the incident at the arcade, she thought, but she figured that there would be plenty of time to make up for that later.

"Good night," she said, taking Cloud's hand as she lay down next to him, drifting off to sleep as well.

* * *

Cloud awoke with a slight headache the following morning. It was unpleasant, but nothing in comparison with last night's blinding pain. Yuffie was already awake, and talking to someone on the phone, by the sound of it.

"I understand, but.." she said, before being cut off by the voice on the other end. She wandered about the hotel room as she spoke. She seemed agitated, somehow.

"Does it have to be right now?" she asked. There was another long pause as she listened, sighing as she did.

"Yeah... okay. I see. All right, I'll be on the next flight out. Okay. Bye," she finished, closing her cell phone.

"Who was that?" Cloud asked, rubbing his temples, still sore from last night.

"My dad," Yuffie said. "He says I need to get back to Wutai for some council meeting. He says it's urgent."

"You're leaving?" Cloud asked, trying his best to mask his disappointment.

"Only for a couple of days," Yuffie said.

She went over to the counter, stuffing her belongings into her backpack. "Hey, you could come with me, if you like," she suggested.

"What about the rest of the gang?" Cloud asked. He was thinking about Reeve's message from last night, and all the repair work that awaited them. It was doubtful that they could get away on such short notice.

"Well, they can come too, if they like," Yuffie replied. "But listen, I really gotta run, right now."

She walked over to the bed where he sat. "Tell you what," she said. "why don't you come on over when you're ready? That way, you can bring the others, too. And if you guys can't make it, I'll meet you back here when I'm done. Shouldn't be more than two days, tops."

Cloud nodded. He hated to see her leave, just when something seemed to be happening between the two of them. But whatever was happening back in her hometown had to be important, so he didn't want to stop her, either.

"All right," he said, getting up from the bed, walking her to the door.

"By the way..." Yuffie said. "I had a really great time last night."

She took his hand for a second, lingering in the doorway, as if wanting to say something else. She seemed reluctant to go, but they both knew she had to.

"So... thanks," she said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek, before heading out the door. "See you soon, okay?" she added, as she left.

And with that, she was gone.

Cloud sat back down on the bed, cursing himself for his hesitation. He wondered whether he should go after her or not, but the moment had already slipped away. She was gone, and he was left by himself again, waiting and wondering.


	2. Fireworks

**Waiting**

**Chapter 2  
****Fireworks**

* * *

Cloud sat at one of the tables in the 7th Heaven bar, waiting for the rest of the Avalanche crew to arrive. It was still early in the morning, and there were no patrons to speak of yet. He sipped his coffee, thinking about last night's events. Maybe it hadn't been such a bright idea to invite the daughter of Lord Kisaragi out on a date. What was he, anyway? An emperor? A warlord?

Whatever he was, he and his daughter were assuredly far above his own stature in the world, Cloud thought. He and Yuffie had a shared infatuation, to be sure, but no matter how amicable or colloquial their relationship, they still came from different worlds, and that morning's phone call had served as a stark reminder of that fact.

During their travels, the other Avalanchers would sometimes joke that they had about two things in common: their motion sickness and their mutual love of sleeveless turtleneck sweaters. Being on the road didn't offer them much chance to change up their attire, after all, and bumpy rides on rickety vehicles were the rule rather than the exception. Since those days, they had taken pains to vary their outfits, though neither of them strayed far from the original blueprint, so to speak. The young ninja didn't much didn't like having her mobility restricted by heavy clothing, so she still gravitated towards simple shorts and tops. Similarly, though he'd modified the uniform he had inherited from his fallen friend, Zack, discarding the military motifs in favor of something more civilian and personal, he still found that the basic design was what worked best.

The observation that they had little common ground beyond these two things might have been a glib and superficial one, but their friends were not entirely wrong. Such rudimentary similarities aside, they indeed seemed to be from two different worlds, with her being royalty, and him rather obviously without nobility. Without notability, for that matter. She, the heir to an ancient and venerated empire, and him, a kid from a small farm town out in the middle of Sticksville, Nowhere. An unlikely combination, even under the most favorable of circumstances.

Beyond these basic similarities, however, they did have something else in common, namely the war between Wutai and Shinra, having been born on opposite sides of it. Less than a generation ago, the two sides had been locked in a bitter struggle for land and power, a sanguinary conflict to which each of them had lost a parent, he a father and she a mother. Their mutual loss accorded them more thing that they held in common: Neither of them wished to inherit the grievances and follies of their forebears.

Both of them intuitively grasped the artificial nature of the conflict, and abhorred it. It had been, after all, a war forced upon them by outside forces, and one that would have conspired to make them mortal enemies had it gone on for any longer than it did, the way all wars seemed to thrust upon people roles they did not desire, forcing them to take part in the grand illusion, an illusion elaborately crafted for them by those in power.

The war and its fallout was something that had no doubt contributed to their psychological bent, and it was one of the reasons why the young lady Kisaragi disdained tradition for its own sake. She figured that traditions would either stand on their own merits, or be swept aside by the tide of time, and deservedly so. He had the same idea, more or less. The last thing that either of them wanted was to see another internecine conflict forced upon people from the outside. The exacting nature of the dialectics of history and of war elicited little response from either of them, aside from a spirited and adamant non serviam. But there would always be those who thought otherwise. As such, Wutai stood at something of a crossroads, and Yuffie Kisaragi, whether she liked it or not, would play a vital role in shaping the future course of her nation.

Cloud didn't know much about politics, and he did not wish to interfere at such a critical moment. Any attempt on his behalf to influence Wutai's politics for the better would likely be met with derision, in any case. His past ties with Shinra were not likely to ingratiate him with many of Wutai's heads of state, either. Better to stay away, for the time being, he thought. It was the logical thing to do. There was more at stake than just their own happiness, after all.

But even so, he couldn't help but pine for her companionship. Lately, she was all he could think about.

His reluctance to follow her was not merely out of prudence in regards to Wutai's future. He had other doubts about their relationship. It wasn't that he doubted whether he wanted to be with her, but rather, he was uncertain whether his motives for doing so were justified. Just why _did_ he want to be with her?

The Single White Rose of Wutai was beautiful, no doubt. Even when they had first met, two years ago, she had captivated him, an impish angel with a bright smile, boundless energy, and a great sense of humor. And as the years passed, he could see the hints of a mature beauty emerging from the cute, bratty teenager that he had first known. More than looks, however, what drew him to her was her spirit. He could always rely upon Yuffie to liven things up, much like Aerith had done when she was still alive. It was impossible to remain idle or complacent around her. He needed someone like that in his life. A catalyst. A motivator.

A spark.

She sometimes went overboard with her practical jokes and horsing around, he thought, but life without her would be pretty dull and grey. It had been mere hours since they had parted, and already things felt too quiet.

He needed her. But ultimately, they were still worlds apart, and there was little he could do to change that.

_"But what if.."_

"Hey, good morning," Tifa said, entering the bar.

"'Morning," Cloud replied, letting go of his wandering thoughts for the time being, Tifa's arrival having brought him squarely back to the present.

"So, how did your date with Yuffie go last night?" Tifa asked as she walked over to the counter, making herself a cup of coffee.

"What?" Cloud replied.

"Your date," Tifa repeated. "How'd it go?"

"How did you..." Cloud started to ask. Neither of them had mentioned their little outing to anyone, as far as he knew. Had word already gotten out?

"She told you about that?" he asked.

"Yeah, she called me up about an hour ago," Tifa said, taking the seat opposite him. "Kept going on and on about it, really. It sounds like she enjoyed herself."

"I see," Cloud replied.

"How about you?" Tifa asked.

"It was fun, I guess," Cloud said. "Well, except for the part where I got knocked out."

Tifa chuckled. "Oh, yeah. She told me about that, too. Nothing serious, I hope?"

"I've had worse," Cloud replied.

"Glad to hear it. So, where is she, anyway?" Tifa asked.

"She left," Cloud said. "Something to do with the politics back in Wutai."

Tifa looked him over, frowning. "Why didn't you go with her?" she asked.

"I figured I probably shouldn't get involved in all that stuff." Cloud replied.

"You don't have to turn into a statesman," Tifa told him. "Just go visit."

She looked him over again, as if sensing his doubts about the whole thing. "She really likes you, you know," she said.

Cloud nodded, but said nothing.

"I'm happy for you," she added, placing one hand atop his, smiling.

"You make it sound like we're already engaged," Cloud said.

"Well, you never know.." Tifa replied, sipping her coffee. He could have sworn that she winked at him.

"But listen..." she said, putting her cup down. "I know her. And I know you. I think the two of you would make a great couple."

Cloud looked up at her again. He hadn't expected that from her. He had thought that she might be doubtful, surprised, or possibly even upset by this turn of events, but she seemed to welcome it. Encourage it, even. Her blessing in this regard meant a great deal to him. His childhood friend had long been the voice of reason for him, after all, and she probably knew what was good for him better than he did.

"I was worried that you were going to work yourself to death," Tifa said. "I mean, you haven't done much else since... You know.."

"Yeah.." Cloud replied.

Neither of them spoke for a moment. Maybe Tifa was right, Cloud thought. He might possibly do something that he'd end up regretting if he went, but he would no doubt regret it a whole lot more if he stayed and did nothing, even if the politics stood between him and Yuffie. Hell, even if the whole world stood between the two of them, he had to try, at least.

"What about the rest of you guys?" he asked. "You feel like going to Wutai?"

"I don't know," Tifa said. "It's kinda hard to get away right now. I'd love to see the place again, but there's a lot to do, what with the bridge collapse and all.."

"It sounds like you could use my help," Cloud said.

"You deserve a break," Tifa said. "We can handle things back here in Midgar. Why don't you head off on your own. I'll see if I can coax the rest of the guys to meet up with you there later."

"You sure?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah, go on," Tifa said. "The work will keep. Get out of here and go see her."

On her advice and insistence, Cloud got up, and went upstairs to pack a few things. He didn't need much. Some basic travel gear and a change of clothes. Simple. Perhaps, for once, things could just be simple.

"Hey," Tifa called as he headed towards the exit.

Cloud halted in the doorway, turning towards her.

"Good luck," she said.

* * *

Cloud wandered through the streets of Wutai, weary from the lengthy flight. It had been unusual to travel by civilian means, but he and the rest of Avalanche were hardly rogues on the run anymore. Still, it was taking some time to readjust to the relative stillness and everyday nature of ordinary life.

He consulted the frayed, yellowing map in his hands again, having gotten somewhat lost along the way. Though Wutai's famed pagoda remained constantly in view, the city streets refused to offer any straight path towards it, as far as he could tell. The town looked a lot bigger than he remembered it, too. Wutai was no longer the tourist trap that Yuffie had once bemoaned, but a bustling center of commerce, expanding in every which direction, abuzz with activity.

He drew a few looks as he wandered through the streets, trying to remember the path leading to the Kisaragi mansion. Perhaps his outfit reminded people of his old Shinra uniform, he thought. No great wonder as to why that wouldn't go over well with the locals.

"Cloud!" he heard a voice calling from behind him.

He looked over, to see Yuffie running down the road, coming up from behind him. She leapt up, wrapping him in a firm embrace, squeezing him so tightly that it was hard to breathe.

"You came," she said, letting go. "Thank the gods. Any more time on my own with these stuffed shirts and I would've exploded."

"Well... I'm glad to see you're still in one piece," Cloud replied. Apparently, Yuffie thought his comment was quite funny. Perhaps her stay here was eroding her sense of humor, he thought.

The young ninja had momentarily foregone her usual repertoire of casual clothing in favor of more formal wear, a dark dress in the Wutaian fashion, adorned with elaborate floral patterns and silk brocades. Cloud looked her over as she released him. As much as he preferred her regular choice of attire, he had to admit that it looked surprisingly good on her.

"You look... nice," he said, inwardly cursing his inarticulate brain for being unable to come up with a better compliment.

"Thanks," Yuffie beamed at him. "Come on. It's this way."

She latched onto his arm, and led him down the winding streets, in the direction of the Kisaragi mansion. As they walked through the city, Cloud noticed carriages and carts loaded with colorful boxes being delivered all across the city.

"What are those?" he asked.

"Fireworks," Yuffie replied. "It's the Crescent Moon Festival tonight."

"You guys taking part in it?" Cloud asked.

"That's the plan," Yuffie said. "We've been stockpiling supplies for a while, anyway. Wouldn't be much fun if we just left them moulding in the house."

The two of them continued to chat for a while, as they headed for the mansion. Their conversation could hardly be described as serious, but it was pleasant, and they were enjoying simply being together.

"Hey, did you know that your name is an anagram of 'fried locust'?" Yuffie asked, out of the blue.

"Glad to see you're keeping busy," Cloud replied, chuckling.

"Well, I've gotta do _something_ with my spare time, right?" Yuffie replied, grinning.

"So, how's the meeting going?" Cloud asked, as they reached the Kisaragi mansion.

Yuffie bit her lip.

"Well, that's the thing.."

* * *

The two of them watched the gathering through a crack in the door. Before them was a room full of well-dressed men seated upon embroidered cushions, drinking tea, waving themselves with ornate fans and talking politely. If one were to look up the phrase 'stuffed shirt' in the dictionary, the scene before them would have made a fitting accompaniment.

"Who are they?" Cloud asked.

"Suitors," Yuffie replied.

"You're kidding," Cloud asked. "Your dad's planning to marry you off?"

"He's _trying_," Yuffie replied. "Not that this is the first time."

"You only just hit eighteen last year," Cloud pointed out. "He's been trying to get you to marry before that?"

"Hey, no one said anything about doing... you-know-what," Yuffie replied. "It's more like one of those 'arranged marriage' type deals."

Cloud looked over the room and its occupants again. The truth finally dawned upon him. "So..." he said, "he got you here on false pretenses. There's no 'council meeting', is there?"

Yuffie shrugged. "What can I say? It's my dad."

The young ninja didn't seem particularly upset by her father's ruse. Godo Kisaragi might be an old goat, Cloud thought, but he was a wily one at that. He guessed that such hoaxes were the norm for the residents of Casa Kisaragi.

"So, what are you going to do?" he asked.

"Same thing I always do," Yuffie replied. "Entertain them for a while, then say 'sorry, not my type'."

"Leading them on, huh?" Cloud asked.

"It's not like I _enjoy_ letting them down..." Yuffie said. "...most of the time," she added. "They're not in it for romance, anyway. They're just trying to get cushy with my dad and his money."

"Why bother, though?" Cloud asked. "Why not just skip the whole thing?"

"They'll just keep coming until I turn them down," Yuffie replied. "Besides, what else can I do?"

"Well, you could always burn down the pagoda again," Cloud suggested, smiling.

Yuffie chuckled. "Not a bad idea."

"Yuffie, why are you not entertaining our guests?" a voice came from behind them. While they had been talking, Godo Kisaragi had somehow materialized, seemingly out of thin air, behind them.

"Oh, dad... I, uh.." Yuffie started.

"Who's this?" Godo asked, scrutinizing her visitor for a moment. At first, he didn't realize who Cloud was, but then there was a sudden flicker of recognition in his eye.

"Ah, you!" he exclaimed.

Cloud blinked. "Me?"

"You!" Godo repeated, shaking his hand firmly. "Strength and determination. I told you," he said, as an aside to Yuffie. "Come, why don't you join us?"

"I really shouldn't.." Cloud said, but Godo was having none of it.

"Nonsense!" Godo replied, ushering him into the room. "We'd be delighted to have you."

Cloud looked over at Yuffie, who was left standing in the hall, just out of sight of her suitors. She gave him a sympathetic look, but one that told him that there wasn't much she could do. When Godo Kisaragi insisted on something, there usually wasn't much room for argument.

"Gentlemen!" Godo addressed the suitors as he seated himself at the far end of the room. "Good to see you all here. My humblest apologies for the wait. Presenting my daughter, lady Kisaragi!"

The men all waited, but nothing happened.

"You can come out now, dear," Godo urged.

Cloud looked over to where Yuffie was standing in the hallway. His seating position near the far end of the room afforded him an angle from which he could catch a small glimpse of her. He could see her give a long sigh of exasperation. Then she straightened out her posture and put on a practiced smile, before entering the room.

She walked among her suitors, serving them tea and light refreshments, before taking a seat next to her father. Cloud was taken aback by her unusually anodyne manner, but figured that she was simply exercising her skill at blending in.

As she sat down, she glanced over at Cloud, who was looking rather uncomfortable seated among all the important-looking businessmen and politicians. One of them, a bespectacled man in a severe grey suit, reached out to shake his hand. "Yoshiro Nagai," the man introduced himself, proffering a sleek-looking business card as he did. "Nagai Enterprises. We run banking chains and hedge funds worldwide," he said. "What do you do?"

"...I deliver mail," Cloud replied. _"Kill gods sometimes, too"_, he thought to add, but he doubted that anyone would believe him. If anything, he would most likely find himself the brand new occupant of a padded cell somewhere if he went around making claims like that. Indeed, some of the things he had experienced during his journey across the world made him question whether he did not, in fact, belong inside of one, with a straitjacket wrapped on for good measure.

The man next to him remained silent for a moment, as though weighing his reply. "Ah, you're in the postal business, then?" Nagai said, having finally worked out what he'd meant by his curt reply.

"...Sure," Cloud replied. He had the sinking feeling that this was going to be a long conversation.

"How are the revenue streams?" Nagai asked.

"Fine... I guess," Cloud hazarded, hoping that the discussion would be over sooner rather than later. He knew about as much about business management as a grizzly bear knew about taxidermy, and the longer the whole thing went on, the greater the chance that his ignorance in that regard would be exposed.

"Interesting... attire," Nagai said. "Who's your tailor? Scalian?"

"SOLDIER," Cloud replied.

"Never heard of him," Nagai replied.

_"No, I guess you wouldn't have,"_ Cloud thought.

Over in her seat, Yuffie was getting fidgety. Cloud could tell that she was trying her best not to break out of character, but Godo had launched into one of his interminable speeches, and he knew from prior experience that her father's gift for prolix speechmaking was second to none. His grandiloquent oratory would test the patience of even the most enthusiastic of listeners, and though Yuffie did her best not to betray any hint of boredom on her face, she looked like she was already close to breaking point.

"Father, may I please be excused for a moment?" Yuffie asked.

She got up, sneaking out of the room as quietly as she could. Though her escape was merely a momentary one, Cloud envied her. As Godo held forth about the venerable history of the Kisaragi lineage, Cloud thought he could hear noises, as of something heavy being pushed and shoved around the nearby rooms, then the ceiling, and finally the cellar.

A few minutes later, Yuffie returned to the room, looking slightly red-faced, as though she had just undergone a brief but intense bout of physical exertion. She did her best to mask this, and soon returned to her normal, if detached, state.

"Well, go on and introduce yourself, my dear," Godo said, having completed his opening speech.

Yuffie stood up, making the rounds with her suitors, sitting down next to each one in turn, making small talk and offering them additional refreshments. Cloud observed the young ninja as she went about her duties. If she was bored, she was doing an admirable job of concealing it.

Finally, she sat down next to him. "Gods, this is going to take all night," she whispered. "I've had more fun conversations with a rock."

"Tell me about it," Cloud whispered back. "Is there any way we can sneak out early?"

"Don't worry," she said. "I've got a plan."

"A plan?" Cloud asked.

"I just need one thing," Yuffie said. "You got any materia on you?"

Cloud slipped her a red fire materia that he'd brought with him.

"Perfect, thanks," she said, getting back up and taking her seat next to her father.

Next came the introduction of the different callers. Cloud watched and waited as Godo Kisaragi and his daughter's suitors blathered on and on, making further dreary, unending speeches and proclamations about the potential prosperity of their union. As they droned on, Yuffie maintained her porcelain doll facade, but he could see the crimson orb in her lap begin to glow, beads of sweat forming on her forehead as she concentrated and focused the power contained within it. He hoped that she wasn't planning to set the room on fire, or, gods forbid, one of her suitors.

Then the realization struck him. The fireworks that the Kisaragi household had been stockpiling. The noises that he had heard earlier. She had been shifting the boxes around the whole house. And now, they were all strategically placed right next to..

_"She's not really planning to.."_

His train of thought was about to be swiftly derailed. Lord Godo made to raise his glass to propose a toast when, in the space of a few seconds, the room's atmosphere turned from placid to pandemonium, as rockets flew inside the room from all directions, spinners burned and danced in the air, sparks flew and things burst into colorful confetti and polychrome explosions. The whole room was lit up with everything from firecrackers to roman candles, sending its occupants fleeing from the blazing cacophony.

Yuffie and Cloud sat still in their respective seats, doing their best to look perfectly innocent, while Godo and the suitors scrambled for whichever exit was closest to them.

The 'meeting' was officially concluded, by all accounts.

* * *

The two of them stood side by side, some distance away from the mansion. The fire brigade had finished dousing the small fires caused by Yuffie's impromptu fireworks display. Thanks to the firefighters' enthusiasm for their work, their visitors' finely tailored suits were now soaking wet, in addition to being lightly burned and stained with soot.

Godo was busy shaking hands with the departing suitors, apologizing profusely for the interruption, and insisting on setting up another meeting _very_ soon. Though the beleaguered head of state did his best to placate his daughter's suitors, they did not look as though they had any intention of coming by for a second visit.

"I hope this isn't becoming a habit for you," Cloud said to Yuffie. He had meant it as a serious admonition, but he couldn't help but smile at her audacity. Their clothes, too, were dripping wet and stained with soot, but they didn't mind.

As the last of the suitors left, Godo came up to them, looking disappointed and angry. "Well, I hope you're happy," he said to Yuffie, before storming off inside the mansion, leaving just the two of them.

Neither one of them said anything. Yuffie reached for Cloud's hand, taking it into her own, giving it a light squeeze as she did. He smiled at her. She smiled back.

_"I am,"_ she thought.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

To be continued.

My apologies for the overly verbose opening. I think I may have gotten a little bit carried away with the navel-gazing at the start of this chapter. The story will probably involve more humour and fewer ponderous prose passage from here on.

To a couple of my reviewers, I would simply like to say that I am not trying to disparage anyone else's preferences. I am simply stating my own, and adding a little bit of content for a pairing which is still, in my view, criminally underrepresented in the fandom.

Thanks for reading. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all.


	3. Busted

**Waiting**

**Chapter 3  
****Busted**

* * *

The two of them wandered through the streets of Wutai, talking, laughing and letting their clothes dry in the warm summer breeze. Though they were headed nowhere in particular, they found themselves gravitating towards the center of town. As they reached the town square, someone called to them from behind. They turned to see the rest of the Avalanche crew approaching.

"Hey!" Tifa greeted them.

"Hey," Yuffie said. "What are you guys doing here?"

"What's it look like?" Cid said. "We're on vacation."

"You guys got here fast," Cloud said. Though he was glad to see his friends all there, he was also a little vexed that they were butting in, now of all times.

"We were pretty much on the plane behind yours," Tifa said. "I thought the rest of the guys might need convincing, but I dropped the words 'Wutai' and 'vacation', and, well... here we are."

"Yeah, we've been busting our humps rebuilding back in Midgar," Barret said. "It's time for a little R&R."

"Speaking of which..." Cid said, "Which way to the bar?"

* * *

It seemed that no matter where they went, the Avalanchers usually ended up crowding a bar somewhere. It was difficult to accommodate a group of eight people anywhere else, at least when it came to hanging out without any particular aim in mind. So they found themselves taking up the whole length of the counter at the Turtle's Paradise.

At one end, Barret, Reeve, Cloud and Yuffie were seated, with their backs to the entrance. At the other end were Tifa, Vincent and Nanaki. Nanaki struggled to remain still on his small, round bar stool, and Yuffie struggled to contain her urge to run over and spin him around on top of it. Dividing the two groups was Cid, taking the corner seat. The captain had foregone his usual brand of cigarettes in favor of an old-fashioned cheroot, which he smoked enthusiastically while perusing the local selection of spirits.

"So," he said, turning to Cloud and Yuffie, "explosions, screaming and potential banishment for life. I see you guys have made yourselves at home."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Yuffie replied, feigning innocence concerning the day's incident.

"Come on. An indoor fireworks show in broad daylight?" Reeve said, cracking open a bottle of beer. "That one has 'Yuffie Kisaragi' written all over it."

"Besides, we could all see that shit for miles," Barret added. "Made finding the place easier, at least."

"I told you, I have _no_ idea what you're talking about. I'd _never_ do anything like that," Yuffie said. "Not on purpose, anyway.."

"Let me guess," Tifa said. "It was an 'accident'."

"With Yuffie, it always is," Cid said. "Girl's a walking disaster."

The captain moved his head just in time to avoid Yuffie's swipe at it.

"Are you guys sure it's okay to leave the bridge repairs behind?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah, no worries," Tifa said. "Turns out it wasn't as bad as we thought. You know how Reeve has a tendency to blow these things out of proportion."

"For good reasons," Reeve said in his defense.

"Here," Vincent said, handing Tifa a drink as he sat down next to her again.

"Thanks," Tifa smiled at him, accepting the cup.

Yuffie watched as the rest of the group proceeded to imbibe a variety of alcoholic beverages, in particular eyeing Tifa's rather elaborate cocktail, replete with miniature umbrella and other colorful decorations.

"Can I have one of those?" she asked.

"Are you twenty yet?" Tifa asked.

"...Yes," Yuffie lied, even though she knew no-one would buy it.

"Sure, you can have one of 'these'," Tifa replied, emptying the alcoholic beverage from her glass and replacing it with orange juice, before handing it to her friend.

"Thanks.." Yuffie said, plucking the umbrella from her drink. Though she was going on nineteen, her friends still had a tendency to treat her like a little kid at times, much to her chagrin.

"What is this stuff, anyway?" Cid asked, raising his half-empty cup to eye level, examining its contents.

"Rice wine," Yuffie said. "Brewed and fermented right here in the valley."

"Well, whatever it is, it's working," Cid said, downing the remaining half of his drink. "Keep'em coming," he said, waving the bartender over for a refill.

At the back of the bar, some rowdy patrons, quite clearly drunk out of their heads, directed a string of hollers, hoots, and catcalls at the two girls, mainly at Tifa. Though she had long since discarded some of her more revealing attire, her natural good looks never ceased to draw attention, usually the unwanted kind.

"I swear, if they don't quiet down soon, I'm going to have to _make_ them quiet down," Tifa said.

"I'll join you," Yuffie said.

"We just got here," Nanaki said. "Can we at least stay for _one_ day before getting into a fight?"

"I can see the headlines now," Cid said. "'Busty, babelicious barmaid busts up brawny bad guys'."

This time, Cid wasn't quick enough to dodge the swipe at his head, causing him to spill his drink. "Damn, you girls need to calm the hell down.." he muttered.

"So, what else is there to do in this town?" Reeve asked. "We can't just sit in here all day, drinking."

"Speak for yourself," Cid said, waving the bartender over for another refill.

"It _does_ seem rather... sedentary in here," Vincent said.

"It's called the 'Turtle's Paradise' for a reason, you know," Nanaki pointed out.

"Well, we could always arrange for a striptease," Cid said. "We've got a double act right here," he added, gesturing towards Yuffie and Tifa. This comment earned him a double smack on the back of the head.

"Seriously," the captain muttered, rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head. "A guy can't get away with nothin'.."

"Don't worry," Yuffie said. "The town'll liven up tonight. There's going to be a fireworks show and parades and stuff."

The Avalanchers were about to call for another round of drinks, when someone came in through the door. It was Chekov, the Kisaragi family's retainer. He marched into the middle of the room, saluting them in a fulsome, officious manner. "I come bearing a message from Lord Godo," he said.

The Avalanchers all looked at one another. It was decided. Here was one more stuffed shirt who desperately needed to unwind, whether he wanted to or not.

* * *

**A few drinks later..**

"This isn't the first time Yuffie's scared off a bunch of suitors, is it?" Reeve asked, turning to Chekov, who was now well on his sixth drink. They had managed to get the usually rigid and formal family retainer well and properly smashed. As a result, he was becoming more susceptible to questioning, transforming the normally taciturn family servant into a raconteur of sorts, something which they intended to take full advantage of.

"Well," Chekov replied, latching onto the bar counter for balance as he leaned back, "there was that one time she served them all laxatives.."

The rest of the group laughed heartily at this image.

"...including her father," Chekov added, eliciting further laughs from the group. "Lord Godo was... less than pleased."

Yuffie shrugged. "What? It was funny."

"Your father might not agree with you there, miss," Chekov replied.

"C'mon, Chekov," Yuffie said, nudging the old man's shoulder. "You laughed."

Chekov's face went red, either from embarrassment, drunkenness or both.

"Let me get that for ya," Cid said, catching Chekov's empty cup, pouring more wine into it. They had succeeded in getting him drunk. Now, the goal was to get him drunker still. There was no telling what kind of stories might come tumbling out of him yet.

"You still haven't told them about the time Hachiko yarked all over the house," Yuffie said.

"Who's Hachiko?" Cloud asked.

"Our family dog," Yuffie said. "Well, _was_ our family dog. He broke into the kitchen one night after I left the gate unlocked. Ate his way through about half the pantry, then finally blew his gut after tossing his cookies all over the house. That, and dad's antique armor collection."

"That's... something," Reeve said.

"Poor dog," Tifa said.

"Well, I can think of worse ways to go out." Cid said.

"At least he died happy," Yuffie said, clearly feeling a bit guilty about her part in the whole affair. "My dad, on the other hand.."

"Oh, the stories I could tell you about her and her father," Chekov said, gulping down his eighth cup of rice wine. He was slurring his words quite heavily by this time, and fumbling for balance. "That time the young lady Kisaragi glued a rabid mongoose to her father's beard. Or that time she stuffed his favorite shirt with itching powder..." he trailed off, hiccuping. "Then there that time with the monkeys.."

"We don't talk about that," Yuffie cut him off. "That didn't happen. We all agreed."

"If you insist, my lady," Chekov said.

She didn't reply, but the look on her face made it clear to all present that the Monkey Incident was to be expurgated from history and their minds both, the sooner, the better.

"You know, considering all the trouble you've given him, I'm surprised your father hasn't disowned you yet," Tifa said.

"He did, actually," Yuffie replied. "Several times."

"What made him take you back?" Reeve asked.

Yuffie shrugged. "Maybe he missed my sense of humor."

"Well.." Chekov said, getting up, doing his best to keep his legs from wobbling. "Just be careful, miss," he cautioned Yuffie. "Your father is quite upset this time."

"So what else is new?" Yuffie replied.

"By the way, what was that message that you were supposed to give us?" Tifa asked.

"Message?" Chekov replied.

"Yes, the message," Vincent prompted.

"I... er.." Chekov replied, scratching the back of his head. Whatever the message had been, it was clearly quite far removed from his mind now.

"Well, it can't have been that important, then," Cid said. "Off you go."

Chekov nodded, saluting them as best he could. He ambled out of the bar, drunk, but happy. The Avalanchers remained seated for the moment, finishing their drinks.

"So, uh... you ever give out lap dances to any of your suitors?" Cid asked, glancing over at Yuffie.

This earned him a third smack on the back of the head.

* * *

The town did indeed liven up as midnight grew nearer, with people gathering in the streets, launching fireworks, lighting paper lanterns and joining to form long parades, led by professional dancers, fire jugglers and musicians, singing and beating their drums as they marched through the city.

The Avalanchers stood out in the streets with the rest of the villagers, watching one of the parades passing by, led by a cavalcade of giant wooden dragons, the people inside undulating as one as the wooden beasts slithered down the road.

As the revelries went on, Yuffie led Cloud away from the rest of the group. "Come on," she said, leading him through the crowded streets. "Let's go up to the Da Chao."

"You want to go mountain climbing at this time of night?" Cloud asked as they dodged past one of the dragon parades. "Surely you're not serious."

"I _am_ serious. And don't call me Shirley," Yuffie replied, in her usual, wiseacre manner.

Some time later, they were outside the main city, headed up the crooked mountain path, the thrum of drum beats echoing behind them in the distance. Yuffie still had her formal dress on, and the wooden sandals that came with it made the climb more difficult than usual, but she wasn't about to let that stop her.

"You know.." she said, as they climbed the steep mountain steps. "They say that if a young couple shares its first kiss on top of the Da Chao at exactly midnight tonight, they're destined to be together forever."

"You really believe that?" Cloud asked.

"Nah, it's just folklore, you know?" Yuffie said. "But it's a great place to watch the fireworks."

After a few more minutes of climbing, they found themselves sitting together at the head of the Da Chao, the enormous guardian statue carved out of Wutai's mountain range. She was right, Cloud thought. It _was_ a great place to watch the fireworks.

They sat and watched as countless fireworks exploded in the distance in bursts of azure and crimson, lighting up the night sky. As they watched, Cloud looked away from the spectacle, stealing a glance at his companion, watching the firelight playing upon her face. The chromatic explosions in the distant sky imbued her countenance with a rare radiance, highlighting the fine features of her youthful face. Even when caked with dirt and grime, she could be pretty, but under the fulminating sky, she looked breathtaking.

She caught him staring at her for just a bit too long. "What?" she asked, growing self-conscious.

"Nothing," Cloud said, shaking his head as he turned away from her.

"You look beautiful," he said, after a pause, looking at her again. "I mean, you always do, but.." he hastened to add.

She looked away, blushing. "You're just saying that," she replied.

Cloud was a little surprised by her reaction. He didn't know Yuffie to be bashful or coy, but right now, she seemed strangely demure. But then again, he knew that for all her brashness and bluster, there was another, gentler side to her, one that she rarely showed to people. The one that he was seeing now.

There was another, longer pause, before she spoke again.

"You know what I like about you?" she asked, drawing her knees up underneath her chin, shivering slightly as she did. Even though it was the middle of summer, the top of the Da Chao was quite cold, and the wind was gradually picking up.

"As long as I can remember, I've always been at odds with everyone," she said. "The whole world, really. Seems like I could never fit in anywhere, and the more I tried, the more the devil kept coming out in me. People kept telling me I needed to change, to fit the mould. Sometimes I tried. Most times I just told them to get stuffed."

She looked up at the sky. "I never felt like I fit in anywhere, you know? Never felt right. Always the same square peg, stuck in a world of round holes."

It was closing in on midnight, and the fireworks display was reaching its crescendo. She waited for a moment, watching the last of the fireworks go off in the distance. Then she turned her gaze towards him again. "But that's what's different about you. You've never asked me to try to be something I'm not. I don't think there's anyone else in the world like you," she said, taking his hand. "You make me feel... _right_."

She leaned in closer, placing a hand against his ear. "Plus, you're really, _really_ hot. That never hurts," she added, grinning.

Cloud looked down on the ground. Now his face was turning red. "You're just saying that, aren't you?" he said, echoing her words.

"Come on," Yuffie said, getting up. "Enough yacking. Get over here and kiss me already."

"Is that an order, your highness?" Cloud asked, standing up as well.

"Oh, yes," Yuffie said, leaning in closer. "The first of many."

"Well, then, I guess I'd better oblige.." Cloud replied, smiling.

"Yes, I think you'd better," she said, smiling back at him.

He cupped her face in his hands, and they both leaned in closer, enveloped by the firelight and Da Chao's cool mountain air, mere inches away from their first kiss.

Then the handcuffs went 'click'.

* * *

"Hey, what do you think you're doing!?" Yuffie shouted, kicking and struggling as the police officers led them down the mountain path. "What the hell is _wrong_ with you? Let... me... _go_!"

Cloud went along with the officers quietly, much more so than she did. He knew he could probably break his handcuffs without much trouble, but he didn't want to trifle with Wutai's authorities until he knew what was going on. The two officers said nothing, but he suspected that it might have something to do with their little escapade at the Kisaragi mansion earlier that day.

Moments later, they found themselves inside a jail cell in an old prison downtown, one that looked more fit for a museum exhibit than for keeping people locked up. On the other side of the bars was Chekov, accompanied by that annoying kid who was always hanging around the pagoda.

"Arrested?" Yuffie asked. "My dad's having us _arrested_?"

"Ah, yes. That was the message I was supposed to convey to you earlier today," Chekov said. "Lord Godo said that you were under house arrest. Well, under arrest, anyway. Something to that effect."

"What the hell is going on?" Yuffie asked. "Is he out of his mind?"

"I'm very sorry, miss," Chekov replied. "I'll get to the bottom of this as soon as I can."

The old man bowed courteously, before heading out the door. It was only when he was gone that they noticed that the rest of Avalanche was gathered in the old jail as well, locked up in the cell across from theirs.

"You guys, too?" Cloud said.

"Yeah, some cops showed up and 'escorted' us to this place during the festival," Cid said. "That's hospitality for ya."

"So, you're finally behind bars where you belong, eh?" the kid jeered at Yuffie.

"Shut up," Yuffie replied.

"From what I hear, it's the pillories for you lot tomorrow," the kid said. "I'll be sure to bring you some fruit, if you know what I mean."

Yuffie threw one of her sandals at him through the bars, not so much in an attempt to harm him, but rather to signal the end of their conversation. He scarpered off, cackling as he left. Yuffie discarded her remaining sandal in order to regain her balance.

"Who _is_ that kid, anyway?" Tifa asked.

"Some distant cousin of mine," Yuffie said. "Not distant enough, if you ask me."

"Did he say 'pillories'?" Reeve asked. "You have pillories here?"

"Well... _yeah_," Yuffie replied. "In the _museum_."

She wandered over to the opposite side of the cell, placing a hand on her forehead. "I hope dad's not seriously planning on busting those out, just to make a point," she muttered.

"Does he always get like this?" Vincent asked.

Yuffie shook her head. "Believe me, I've seen him get pretty angry. One time, I nearly brought the house down while practicing a summon. He was hopping mad. As in, there was actual _hopping_ involved."

She walked back over to the bars, shaking her head. "But even for my dad, this is beyond the pale."

"So, what do we do now?" Nanaki asked.

"Well, we're not just gonna bust our way out of here.." Cid said.

As if to contradict him, there was a sharp 'plinking' noise, as Cloud neatly removed two of the bars from their cell's window. He looked over his shoulder, to find everyone's attention focused on him.

"What?" he said.

He had expected that it might require some exertion on his part to remove the bars, but they had been more or less ready to come out by themselves. The prison was no longer in use in any real capacity, and the reason why was becoming apparent. There wasn't much security to speak of, either. The only watchman they could see was a lone officer, sleeping on a wooden chair propped up against the corner. An old guard dog was curled up at his feet, also asleep.

"Not exactly a high-security prison complex, is it?" Reeve said.

"Well, we've got a way out now," Nanaki said.

"You kidding me? Ain't no way I'm going to fit through one of those," Barret protested, eyeing the tiny windows.

"You don't have to," Yuffie said. "I can take care of the locks. I just need to go fetch some tools."

She walked over to the open window. Cloud knelt down next to her, giving her a boost. She slipped through the opening, then bolted off into the distance. The rest of the group waited for a few moments, while nothing much happened. Then the main door slid open. Yuffie had returned, carrying a small backpack. She snuck back over to the prison cells, taking caution not to wake the guard.

As she worked on the locks with her tools, the dog lifted its head, yawning. Still drowsy, it eyed her with mild interest.

"Here, boy," she said, digging up a doggie biscuit from her backpack, something that she kept around for occasions like these. The old dog accepted the treat, munching on it contentedly as it went back to sleep.

A few minutes later, the cell doors were open, and they were free. Following their jailbreak, they snuck out of the inner city as quietly as possible. The celebrations were over, and most of the townspeople had returned to their homes, leaving behind mounds of confetti and discarded paper lanterns in their wake.

They set about finding a vehicle, in order to get back to the airport. It was a long walk, and one that they were not about to undertake in their current state. Unfortunately, there weren't many motor vehicles to be found in Wutai, and those that were were mainly located on the outskirts of the city. After wandering about for a good hour or so, they finally came across a farm, where they found a sizeable car which looked like it might fit all eight of them.

"There," Yuffie said. "We can use that."

"We can't just take their car," Tifa said.

"Don't worry," Yuffie said. "They've got insurance."

"How do you know?" Reeve asked.

The young ninja dug out a small notebook and pencil from her backpack, scribbling something on one of the pages, before tearing it out and fixing it to the fence next to the car. It said, _"I.O.U. one car – Godo Kisaragi."_

"That's how," she replied.

"All right," Cid said. "Let's get the hell out of here."

Yuffie set about hot-wiring the car, before taking one of the seats in the back. The others got in as well, with Cid taking his customary position behind the wheel. The rest of the Avalanchers all looked at one another, not quite certain if this was such a great idea. The captain had been mainlining the Turtle's Paradise's famous rice wine for the better part of the day, and looked to be quite soused.

"Are you sure you're okay to drive?" Tifa asked.

Cid dismissed her concern with a wave of his hand. "I ain't even tipsy," he replied, starting up the car.

The tree with which he collided a few minutes later might have taken exception to that claim, had it been able to do so. Cid stumbled out of the car, followed by the others, in order to inspect the damage done. Barret wrenched the hood open, peering through the smoke rising from the engine. Meanwhile, the others examined the object that they had run into. It was a large tree, adorned with elaborate decorations, and with slips of coloured paper on which wishes and fortunes had been written hanging from every branch. It looked extremely important.

"Tell me this just one of them ordinary, overdecorated trees that you have all over Wutai," Cid said.

"That was the sacred Lifegiver tree," Yuffie informed him.

Cid winced, scratching the back of his head. "_How_ sacred?"

"_Very,_" Yuffie replied. "Gods, I don't think I've ever been in this much trouble with my dad," she said, rubbing her aching forehead. "I need to get away from here. I mean _far_ away."

The others all agreed. It was only a matter of time before Godo Kisaragi found out about all of this, and there was no telling what kind of trouble they would be in then. Removing themselves from the premises post-haste seemed like the only sensible thing to do.

"I've got the answer to that," Cid said, ambling over to the others. He had a look on his face that told them he'd just had another bright idea. They might not be in the mood to hear it, but he was going to announce it, anyway.

"My friends..." he said, clasping Yuffie by one shoulder and Cloud by the other. "We... are going on a road trip."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

These chapters just keep getting shorter, don't they? Ah, well. That's what you get when you give the thesaurus a day off and set aside navel-gazing prose in favor of dialogue and brief descriptions. Also, I fear that the next chapter might get a bit silly, but we'll see how that goes.

I admit that this story here is unabashedly saccharine at times. Guilty as charged there. I see it partly as taking a break from the sturm und drang of 'Empires' and 'Crimson Fields'. I had some ideas, mainly ones would clash with the tone of those aforementioned stories, but ones which I felt compelled to write out, nonetheless. My muse is a harsh mistress, and I can no more quarrel with her than I can order the tide not to come in.

(And yes, I shamelessly stole the "don't call me Shirley" joke from 'Airplane!'. So sue me.)

See you in the next chapter.


	4. Night of the Walking Terrors

**Waiting**

**Chapter 4**  
**Night of the Walking Terrors**

* * *

Dio, it had to be said, was not, on the whole, a bad dresser. Rather, he would have to be described as a man at war with good taste. His new three-piece suit looked as though it had been assembled via the process of hurling its wearer through a circus dressing room, a kilt shop and a Halloween outlet, respectively. Still, the Avalanchers could scarcely complain, mainly because they were grateful that the man was found to be wearing clothes at all.

After a few days on the road, the group had decided to stop by the Gold Saucer for some R&R. It had been nearly two years since they had visited the celebrated amusement park, and in the interim its owner had added a slew of new rides and attractions, ranging from roller coaster rides and ferris wheels to restaurants and movie theaters. To the outside world, a place like this might have seemed childish and frivolous, but perhaps what people needed most right now was a few distractions from the mundane world and its problems.

The ebullient proprietor of the Golden Saucer hove into view as the group stepped out of the sky tram. "Ah, welcome back to the Gold Saucer!" Dio said, recognizing his latest visitors. "Make yourselves at home. You'll have free room and board, all on the house. Least we can do for our saviours, eh?"

"Er... thanks," Cid replied, unable to take his eyes off the visual train wreck that was Dio's new suit. His shredded top hat was adorned with a pair of giant bat wings, or a pair of floppy antlers. He couldn't quite decide, and he could scarcely tear his eyes away from the surreal nightmare that was Dio's latest experiment in ocular torture. The whole ensemble was topped off with what looked like a moose head, perched atop Dio's hat. Cid stared at it, and he could swear that it stared back at him.

Dio beckoned the group onwards, thrusting golden all-access passes into their hands as he led them towards the ticket gates. Finally, he left them to greet more customers, fresh off the tram. The Avalanchers headed through the gate, with Cid trailing slightly behind the others, resisting the urge to slowly back away.

"I really don't get that guy," Cid said, as they walked past the gate. "One of the richest men on the planet, and he dresses like he just got attacked by a woodchipper."

"Ah, don't worry about him," Reeve said. "He's harmless."

"Not if you've got eyeballs, he ain't," Cid muttered.

Cloud and Yuffie walked down the entertainment plaza, hand in hand, inspecting the posters for the new rides and attractions.

"Hey, you want to go check out the haunted house?" Yuffie asked.

"Um, not really.." Cloud replied.

Upon hearing her suggestion, the blond swordsman became strangely evasive, hastening to get her away from the display, trying vainly to draw her attention to the other attractions.

"Wait... You're not _scared_ of monsters, are you?" Yuffie asked. "I mean, have you forgotten how many of these things we've killed?"

"Yeah, but.." Cloud protested. He had always hated haunted house rides, ever since he was a kid. It was silly, and he knew it, but he couldn't help it. For some reason, facing down real monsters wasn't a problem for him, but there was something about the artificial nature of these grotesqueries that creeped him out more than the real thing ever could.

"It's all just animatronics and special effects, anyway," Yuffie said. "Nothing to be scared of."

She slipped her hand underneath his arm, pulling him back in the direction of the haunted house entrance. "Come on," she said with a sly wink, dragging him over to the waiting line. "I'll keep you safe."

"Have fun," Tifa said, as they disappeared inside the Monster World section of the Saucer.

"We will," Yuffie replied, grinning.

* * *

Being undecided as to what to do and where to go, the rest of the group decided to hang around in the arcade section while they hatched ideas about what else to do with their time, which they certainly had plenty of. Upon entering the cavernous interior of the Golden Saucer's video arcade, the Avalanchers were bombarded with strobing lights and loud music blaring out of speakers too small to properly carry the sound, sizeable though they were. Had any of them been even slightly susceptible to epileptic seizures, they would undoubtedly have been left writhing on the floor the minute they stepped inside the room.

One of the arcade's attendants tapped Cid on the shoulder, pointing out the "No Smoking" sign in the corner. The pilot grumbled, stamping out his freshly lit cigarette. He wandered about the arcade, spying a lucky catcher machine in the corner of the room.

"Man, those things are always rigged to drop the prize at the last second," he said to himself. "Complete waste of time, if you ask me. I mean, what kind of idiot would throw their money away on.."

Before he finished his sentence, he noticed that everyone else had clustered around the machine, watching Barret and Marlene enthusiastically engaged in capturing some prize or another. Even Vincent seemed to be eyeing the spectacle with mild interest.

"Never mind," Cid muttered.

He watched for a while, as the others struggled in vain to capture one of the plush prizes secluded within the catcher's glass cage, only to have their efforts undone by the machine's meager claws, clearly not designed to pick up anything much heavier than a dust mote. Eventually, they gave up on this endeavour, and wandered off throughout the arcade, settling upon one digital distraction or another, which left Cid and Barret watching over Marlene, who was now standing in front of one the arcade machines, balancing on a wooden box in order to reach the joystick.

The young girl mashed the round, plastic buttons in front of her, watching the array of colourful explosions that she was generating on the screen, mesmerized. From time to time, she would look over to Barret, pleading with him to part with another gil so she could keep playing.

"I swear," the big man grumbled, digging into his pocket for another coin. "These things are just made to eat up change."

"Well, at least it's giving you _something_ in return," Cid said. "Sure beats the way those lucky catchers fuck people over."

Innocuous though it was, there was something about Cid's comment that Barret did not seem to appreciate. His face grew visibly darker as the captain spoke.

"Marlene, papa needs to have a little talk with uncle Cid," Barret said, clasping Cid's shoulder. "Don't go anywhere, okay?"

"Okay," Marlene replied, without taking her eyes off the game.

Barret marched Cid around the corner, in a manner that told him that participation in the following conversation was not a matter of choice.

"Motherfucker, how many times have I told you not to swear around Marlene?" Barret said, as soon as he was sure the two of them were out of earshot.

"All right, all right. Sorry. I forgot," Cid grumbled, throwing his hands up.

"Well, you just make sure you remember while we're here, or I'll have to smack you upside the head," Barret said, glaring at him.

"Fine," Cid replied, rolling his eyes. He had forgotten how zealously protective Barret could be of his adopted daughter. He could be careless about many things, but 'raising Marlene right', as he put it, was not one of them. That included keeping her away from 'bad words', which made speaking to or around the young girl something of a struggle for Cid.

Wandering back inside the arcade, Cid realized that, aside from himself, just about everyone had found some activity there to engage in. Vincent seemed to be the only other member of the group who was at a loss as to what to do with his free time.

"Enjoying yourself?" Vincent asked, leaning against the wall.

"Naw," Cid replied. "This place is kinda shiny for my tastes."

"Indeed," Vincent said.

"You wanna hit the arena?" Cid asked.

"Very well," Vincent replied.

Without any further words, the two of them wandered off towards the Battle Square. On their way to the arena, they noticed advertisements for a retro movie night at one of the Saucer's numerous movie theaters. A row of television screens depicted a black and white horror film, tinny sound emanating from the nearby speakers. "Behold the walking terrors that terrorize the earth in all their terrible, terrifying ways.." the narrator droned on.

"Haven't I seen that movie somewhere before?" Cid said.

"They remade it last year," Vincent said. "Threw millions of gil at the production, from what I hear."

The movie's soundtrack assailed them through the miniature speakers, all brass and dramatic violin chords, the whole orchestra working overtime, as though the conductor were having a stroke. The trailer, meanwhile, alternated between shots of the movie's principal actors screaming as they were assaulted by extremely fake-looking monsters and actors in giant bug suits.

"Can your hearts withstand the relentless nightmare that is... _THE NIGHT OF THE WALKING TERRORS!_"

"...Indeed," Vincent remarked dryly, as they passed by.

"What's with the all remakes lately?" Cid mused. "Are they out of ideas or something?"

"Nihil novi sub sole," Vincent replied, shrugging.

"What did you call my mother?" Cid said.

"Never mind," Vincent said. "Let's just get to the arena."

As they continued through the entertainment plaza, a man rushed past them, waving his hands in the air, shouting "We're all going to die!"

"What's his problem?" Cid asked, watching as the man ran down the nearest corridor, knocking over several patrons along the way.

"Probably just some lunatic," Vincent said. "Come on."

Cid figured Vincent was most likely right, but there was something about the encounter that left him a bit rattled. Though he usually tried his best to ignore hypochondriacs and neurotics, the sight of someone running around proclaiming such things usually did not, in his experience, herald an auspicious start to an evening.

* * *

Nib, Dio's assistant, scuttled up to the owner of the Gold Saucer with a troubled look on his face, one that told him that not all was right with the world. "Sir, there be a monster loose in the park," Nib said. "It escaped from yon arena."

Dio groaned. His assistant's solecistic manner of speech grated on his nerves at the best of times. Today was not the best of times, and looked like things were only about to go downhill from here.

"Well, how the.." Dio began, stopping short of the full sentence. A satisfactory answer was likely not forthcoming. Finding out the 'how' of the situation, he decided, was less important than containing it.

"Was it a _big_ monster or a _small_ one?" he asked, exasperated.

Nib paused, considering the question for a moment.

"Yes," he replied.

* * *

It was drawing near midnight. Yuffie and Cloud were halfway through the horror hospital portion of the Monster World section. Periodically, actors in make-up playing dead doctors and nurses would creep up behind them, and start chasing them down rooms or corridors if they deemed that they were taking too long making their way through the building. Eventually, they reached the exit, breathing a sigh of relief as they did. After the stale, musty air and near-complete darkness of the hospital building, being back out in the cool air was refreshing.

The young ninja wasted no time in dragging Cloud off to whatever horror-themed attraction was next. She snickered, seeing as he somehow managed to turn even paler than usual. They had spent most of the night wandering through the newly-built Monster World section. Cloud was uncomfortable the whole time, and she was getting quite the kick out of it.

"Look! I'm a big, scary monster. Whoo!" she said, pretending to creep up behind him.

"That's not funny," Cloud said.

"Speak for yourself, scaredy-cat," Yuffie replied, latching onto his arm, giggling. Cloud rolled his eyes. The young ninja was enjoying tormenting him a little _too_ much.

As they walked through the square, deciding on which attraction to visit next, they noticed people pouring out through the exits, screaming, running away from something.

"What's going on?" Yuffie asked.

There was a loud thump, as something landed on the floor next to them. Something _heavy_. They turned to see an amorphous, biological mass unravelling into a maelstrom of teeth and tentacles before them. The creature resembled nothing so much as a giant vampire squid that had been turned upside down and inside out. It shambled over to them, flailing and gurgling, leaving a trail of ichor behind it on the floor as it slithered across the room.

_"Huh,"_ Cloud thought. _"That thing looks really lifelik-"_

The monster swiped at their heads with its long tentacles, in a decidedly non-artificial manner, shattering the statue of Dio situated on top of the fountain behind them. They dodged out of the way just in time to avoid the debris raining down over their heads.

"What the hell?!" Cloud said, leaning out from his cover behind one of the statue fragments.

"It's okay!" Yuffie said, taking cover at the other end of the fountain. "It's just fake!"

"Are you sure?" Cloud replied, shouting to be heard over the monster's roar.

The squid-thing swiped at them again, annihilating the rest of the fountain, leaving them with no hiding place.

"Uh... no," Yuffie said.

She attempted to cross over to his side of the square, but the creature was on to her, swinging low to catch one of her legs. "Wah!" she cried out as the lumbering beast snatched her up off the ground, leaving her hanging upside down.

"...Help me!" she called.

"I'm coming!" Cloud called, running up behind the monster as it slithered out of the square and into the Gold Saucer's other entertainment districts. The squid-thing moved with surprising speed, and he had to exert himself to keep up. But there was another, larger problem. They had both left their weapons and materia behind at the Saucer's entrance, which meant that he had no means of rescue and no real plan. He looked around for a suitable weapon. There were plenty of shops around, but they carried but nothing but toy swords and cheap replicas.

_"Just my luck,"_ he thought.

* * *

Dio entered the monster pits, addressing the foreman of the crew. "Stub, I understand that one of our monsters is on the loose," Dio said.

"No, sir," Stub replied. "That is incorrect."

"No?" Dio asked.

"No, sir," Stub repeated.

"Well," Dio said, wiping the sweat from his brow. "I'm relieved to hear that. So, it was all a false alarm, then?"

"No, sir," Stub said.

Dio furrowed his brow, growing increasingly irritated. "What do you mean?" he asked. "I thought you said we had a monster on the loose."

"Monster_s_, sir," Stub corrected him. "Plural."

"How many?" Dio asked.

"All of them, sir," Stub replied, matter-of-factly, hooking his thumbs under the lapels of his jacket.

"...WHAT?"

* * *

"'Closed for repairs'?" Cid said, looking at the sign at the foot of the Battle Square's heavily sealed entrance. "What's this bullcrap?"

"We should return to the others," Vincent suggested. "I doubt we'll find much entertainment here.

Before Cid could reply, a heavy desk was flung between them, crashing into the wall on the other side. There was screaming, as something came crawling out from the shadows. They had seen a lot of strange monsters in their time, but the specimen before them represented some of the most egregious violations of biological correctness they had ever witnessed. The monster drew open its circular mouth, screeching, wetting the floor, as well as their clothes, with saliva as it brayed at them. Cid raised an eyebrow, unperturbed by the monster's display of aggression.

"Or perhaps," Vincent said, drawing his gun, "the entertainment will find _us_ tonight."

* * *

The rest of the group, having spent some time deliberating what to with themselves next, were on their way to the movie theater. Nanaki had been elicited, albeit grudgingly, to convey Marlene there on his back. The young girl couldn't be more delighted, directing the crimson beast to and fro with her cotton candy stick, which she waved about like a baton.

"Giddy-up, horsey!" the young girl shouted, kicking her heels against his sides.

"I am _not_ a horse," Nanaki protested, chafing under the benevolent dictatorship of Barret's daughter.

"Quiet! Horses don't talk," Marlene reminded him, knocking him on the head with her candy stick. The blow barely registered in terms of physical pain, but the indignity of having to put up with her childish reign was beginning to wear on his nerves. Nanaki opened his mouth to protest some more, but decided to hold his tongue, lest he incur the wrath of his little mistress again.

On their way to the theater, they passed a number of shops and stands selling everything from toys and memorabilia to exotic cuisine. In the distance, another fireworks display, one of the many scheduled for the night, had just started, bathing the whole square in a violet and orange light. As they walked past the stalls, there was a commotion, with people running and screaming, though for what reason they couldn't quite tell.

They paused, watching as a number of strange creatures flitted through the square, giving chase to anything that moved. For a minute, they wondered if this was some new event or happening that the Gold Saucer staff had planned for the night. It seemed a bit too realistic to be just another performance.

They did not have to wonder for long, however, as a clutch of monsters came bursting out from behind the food stalls next to them, spilling their contents all over the floor, revealing mouths filled with more teeth than it was reasonable for any living organism to possess. These creatures, they knew, were something that, no matter how unorthodox the stand's cuisine, was assuredly _not_ on the menu.

"Okay, that's not supposed to be happening, is it?" Tifa asked.

"No, indeed," Barret replied, clicking the safety off his gun-arm, aiming for one of the creatures' heads as it came closer.

"I guess movie night is cancelled," Reeve said.

"Red, you get Marlene out of here," Tifa said. "We'll go find the others."

"Right," Nanaki said. The young girl caught hold of his mane, and he bolted off to safer grounds.

Reeve looked over at the park, no longer the site of blithe amusements, but of sheer terror. All around them, the Gold Saucer was erupting into full-fledged pandemonium, with monsters of every colour and kind chasing its visitors every which way, hounding them throughout the park grounds.

"...This is going to be a long night."

* * *

The squid-thing shambled through the deserted restaurant district, with Yuffie still suspended from one of its tentacles. Cloud was not far behind, tracking it by the trail of ooze that it left in its wake. Along the way, other, smaller monsters would try to ambush him, slowing his pursuit. He did his best to keep his focus on the thing holding his object of affection hostage, but trying to fend off the other creatures with nothing but his bare hands was like trying to wade through a swamp in fetters.

Yuffie swung and kicked at the monster, which didn't do her much good, since it held her well at arm's length. She could handle herself in a fight, of course, but having been caught unaware, she was left with few means with which to fend off her captor. She could sense most of the blood in her body rushing straight to her head, making her feel light-headed and disoriented. The monster's frequent convulsions weren't helping, either.

As the chase went on, they could hear the sound of gunfire approaching. Cid and Vincent emerged from one of the side entrances, staving off a horde of creatures intent on making dinner out of them. Cid gave them a look that said 'You guys, too?'

"I see you've joined the festivities," Vincent said.

"Oh, yeah," Yuffie said. "We're having a whale of a time. NOW GET ME _DOWN_ FROM HERE!"

"You got any weapons?" Cloud asked.

"Just the one," Cid said, indicating Vincent's humble pistol. The pilot, having left his spear at the park's entrance with the rest of the team's equipment, was making do with a brass stand from one of the Gold Saucer's many rope barriers as a surrogate weapon.

"Great," Cloud said.

"Guys... a little help here?" Yuffie asked.

"We're working on it," Cid called to her. "Just hang in there!"

"Like I've got a choice!" she yelled back, still trying to wring herself free from the monster's grasp. The monster did not seem likely to harm her, but it didn't seem particularly keen on letting her go, either.

"We don't have any other option," Vincent said. "We need to get our equipment."

"Someone needs to stay behind, keep an eye on Yuffie," Cid said. He and Vincent looked at each other for a moment. Then they both looked over at Cloud.

"Good luck," Vincent said, thrusting the small gun into his hands, before departing for the tram station.

* * *

The rest of the group had had the same idea, more or less, and was gathered around the tram station's entrance, scouring the place for their weapons. Some of the Gold Saucer's other visitors had taken shelter there as well, using the place as a temporary safe haven. Dio made his way through the crowd, approaching the Avalanchers.

"We need your help," Dio said. "We've got monsters on the loose."

"Yeah, no sh-" Cid began. He pausing, noticing that Barret was glaring at him. Then he realized the reason why. Marlene was within hearing distance.

"...sugar," he finished. His unusually tame response elicited a few odd looks from his fellow Avalanchers.

He and the others did their best to locate their equipment amidst all the chaos. Between the numerous refugees and Dio's ceaseless entreaties for help, they had plenty of obstacles laid in their path.

"Can you stop them?" Dio asked.

"We'll try," Tifa said.

"We weren't exactly expecting a battlefield when we came in here," Reeve said.

"Okay, people," Cid said, having finished gathering his gear. "What's the game plan?"

"We can herd the monsters back into their cages if you can hold them off," Dio said. "There are two places that are swarming with them: The theater section and the fairgrounds."

"We can handle the fairgrounds," Tifa said, looking over at Reeve and Barret.

"All right," Cid said. "We'll clear out the theater. Just need to make one stop on the way.."

* * *

Cloud aimed the pistol at the squid-thing again, gripping the weapon with both hands. He hadn't handled firearms since his days with Shinra, and it showed. Still, at this distance, he didn't need any real aiming skills to hit his target. Not that it was doing much good. The bullets simply sank into the monster's flesh, before the bullet holes closed up again. It was like trying to gun down a giant marshmallow. The creature seemed mildly irritated by his attacks, but it was clear that he wasn't doing it any real damage.

"You guys okay?" Cid asked, as he and Vincent appeared once more.

"Still standing," Cloud said.

"...Speak for yourself," Yuffie said. It was getting to be an embarrassingly long rescue, and she was almost getting used to her predicament. She had stopped flailing around, and was simply hanging from the monster's grip now, looking more annoyed than dismayed. The monster hadn't yet caused her any real harm, but it didn't seem likely to let go of her any time soon, either.

"Here, gear up," Cid said, handing Cloud the equipment pack. "We brought your stuff."

_"Finally, a real sword,"_ Cloud thought, picking his blade out from the panoply of weapons.

As they prepared to attack the monster, Stub and Nib, Dio's assistants, came running down the plaza.

"That's it?" Stub asked.

"That be the one," Nib replied. "Gnasher Junior."

"I'd hate to see Senior," Stub said, eyeing the cumbersome beast.

Cloud and Cid charged at the beast, slicing off a number of its tentacles, only to watch them grow back moments after they had been severed. Vincent stood back, firing the occasional shot at the vile thing, with about as much success.

"That won't be doing you any good, I'm afraid," Nib informed them.

"Why not?" Vincent asked.

"Well, it's kind of... immortal," Stub said. "Technically speaking."

"'Technically speaking'?" Cid asked.

"Well, yes..." Stub said. "We figured it'd be easier than raising new monsters, so we engineered some regenerating ones. That thing can't be killed by anything other than old age."

"Oh... perfect," Cloud said. "Well, does it have any weaknesses?"

"I hear it's allergic to salt," Stub suggested.

"Salt, huh..?" Cloud said. He looked over at one of the restaurants on the tiered saucer below.

"I'll be right back," he told Yuffie.

"Sure," Yuffie said, crossing her arms. "Take your time. It's not like I'm going anywhere."

* * *

He rushed over to the nearest restaurant, a fancy, five-star establishment. Despite everything that was going on outside, they were still serving food, and neither the waiters nor the customers seemed to have noticed that the rest of the park had been transformed into a monster banquet and free-for-all. Pushing past the maitre d', he burst into the kitchen, leaning over the counter, out of breath. "Salt," he managed.

"What?" the chef replied, eyeing him as one might a goldfish that had grown a pair of legs and leapt out of its fishbowl.

"I need all your salt," Cloud repeated. "_Now_."

The chef's face turned to stone. He looked like he would be hard pressed to give up a single grain of salt, much less the restaurant's whole supply, even under the direst of circumstances. "And why would I give that to you?" he asked.

Cloud sighed. Though the restaurant staff's refusal to allow the chaos outside to disturb their work merited some admiration, he did not have the patience for any needless obstructions tonight.

"Because," he said, drawing his sword, "I'm going to ask nicely."

* * *

The three of them heaved the sack, filled with coarse-ground salt, over to the saucer's edge. Below them was Gnasher Junior, wandering aimlessly about the plaza, with Yuffie still held in its grip. The sack burst open upon impacting the monster's head. The monster convulsed, jolted out of its complacency by the sudden contact with the allergen. Had the creature possessed olfactory senses, it would undoubtedly be sneezing up a storm at that moment.

The monster's grip on the young ninja began to loosen, but it was still holding her perilously high above the floor. Cloud, seeing that she was about to land on solid marble, face-first, from several feet up, rushed over to her. "Yuffie!" he called, dropping down to the floor below, using the shop stalls to break his fall along the way.

The monster finally released its grip on her. She fell through the air for a moment, screaming, expecting to hit the hard floor below. But to her surprise, it was a fairly soft landing. Or rather, she had landed on _something_ soft, which was sprawled out in a heap underneath her.

"Ow.." the heap said.

She smiled, recognizing the voice. "My hero," she said, giving Cloud a hug.

"My pleasure," Cloud replied, wincing, rubbing the back of his aching head.

There was a brief pause during which neither of them said anything. Yuffie raised herself up to a sitting position, straddling her rescuer.

"Um, do you mind?" Cloud asked, trying to get up.

"Actually," Yuffie said, pushing him back down, pinning him to the floor by his arms. "I think I like you just where you are."

"You do, huh?" he asked, smiling.

"Yes, I think so," she replied, grinning.

"Then I'll just have to bring you down to my level," he said, pulling her in closer, pressing his lips against hers.

There was a great commotion all around them. Something exploded in the artificial sky above their heads, sending electrical sparks raining down onto the floor. In that same moment, a group of people stormed past them, followed by a horde of monsters bent on making said people their next meals. The two of them did their best to ignore the cavalcade of monsters rushing by, and the ensuing chaos all around them. It was their first kiss, after all, and they were determined to enjoy it, come hell, high water, or what looked and sounded very much like the end of the world.

"If you two are done swapping saliva, we could use some help here," Cid said, interrupting their moment. "We've still got a crisis to contain, if you hadn't noticed."

Cloud sighed. "You know... for once, it would be nice if we could have a day without some sort of disaster to deal with. Just to see what it's like."

"You said it," Yuffie said, getting up. "Seems like everywhere we go, there's always _some_ kind of trouble."

"All right. Quit yer bitching and go kill something," Cid said, tossing Yuffie her combat shuriken and some materia. "We've still got a theme park to save, remember?"

"You go with Cid and Vincent," Cloud said to Yuffie. "I'll help Tifa and the others."

"Okay," Yuffie said. "Be careful," she added, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

"You too," Cloud replied, before heading off to the fairgrounds.

* * *

"How did all this happen, exactly?" Dio asked. He and his assistants were back in his office, doing their best to organize the rescue and containment efforts.

"They got out during feeding time, sir," Stub explained. "Some... ahem... 'intelligent' designer thought it would be a good idea for the locks to open and close at specific time intervals, and not close again until late in the evening. Their new 'monster motivation' system wasn't exactly the brightest idea, either, if I might add."

"Motivate?" Dio asked. "Motivate them how, exactly?"

"With electric shocks," Stub said.

"So..." Dio said, "The monsters are hungry... they're _angry_... and they're on the loose. In the park. _My_ park. Where every patron is going to look like a five-star meal on legs to them."

"Essentially... yes," Stub replied.

Dio buried his head in his hands, sighing. "Get me the contractor for this infernal contraption," he said. "I need a word with him."

"He's on his way," Stub said.

"Correction," a voice came from behind them. "He's here."

* * *

The cast members, scheduled to put on a new production of 'Loveless', seemed to be doing their best to enact an impromptu performance of 'Dinner for Two', with several monsters chasing them about the stage. The audience had long since abandoned the auditorium, but the monsters had cut the actors off from all escape routes.

Yuffie and Vincent came up to them, moving through the backstage area. "Careful," Vincent said. "These props are inflammable."

The gunman brought up his rifle, gunning down one of the creatures as it lunged at the terrified actors, allowing them time to escape.

"I've got this one," Yuffie said, charging up her fire materia, aiming for the second monster, sending a cone of flame across the stage, emanating from her hands. The fire spread throughout the theater, lighting up the curtains, sending half the roof collapsing down onto the stage in the process.

"Oops," Yuffie said, surveying the damage she had done.

"Yuffie, what is with you and setting things on fire?" Vincent asked. "Should we be worried?"

"It was an _accident_," she replied. "Besides, I thought you said this place was inflammable."

"'Inflammable' means 'flammable'," Vincent said.

"Oh," Yuffie replied. "...Why?"

Vincent shrugged. "Beats me. Come on. I'm sure the others need our help."

A thought occurred to her as they left the empty auditorium.

"Hey, where's Cid?"

* * *

The captain, having heard someone screaming as they passed through the backstage area, had separated from his companions, and was caught up in a rescue attempt of his own.

"Somebody help me!" a woman's voice came from the other side of the door.

"Hold on, I'm comin'!" Cid called, bashing the locked door in with his halberd, the woman's screams intensifying as he hacked away at the door.

"Oh, god, _no!_" the woman screamed.

The door finally gave way, and Cid rushed inside the dressing room, dusting away the splinters from his jacket as he pushed through the shattered remains of the door. "All right, come get some, you ugly son of a.." he said, trailing off as he realized that there was no-one in the room.

It had not been an actual victim screaming for help, he realized, but one of the actors in the B-movie being touted throughout the Gold Saucer, its trailer playing over and over again on all available screens. He watched the black-and-white panorama, as the rubber-suit monsters continued to terrorize the actors on-screen.

Cid heaved a sigh.

"...Fuck."

* * *

Nanaki yelped as he was thrown across the room, crashing into the wall on the opposite side of the tram station. A monster had taken him by surprise as he escorted Marlene to safety. The monster closed in, preparing to strike Nanaki's exposed underside, when Marlene stepped in.

"Bad horsie!" she yelled, whacking the monster over the head with her cotton candy stick.

The attack itself barely registered in terms of pain, but unbeknownst to her, she had just triggered an allergic reaction in the monster, sending it collapsing to the ground, before getting up again, fleeing through the nearest exit.

"Thank you," Nanaki said, getting back to his feet.

"You're welcome," Marlene replied, beaming.

"Come on. Let's get back to the others," Nanaki said, offering her a spot on his back. "This place isn't as safe as I thought."

* * *

"Goddamn it," Cid said, contacting the others on his radio. "I'm missing all the fun tonight. Where are you guys?"

"The fairgrounds," Tifa replied, dodging as one of the Golden Saucer's attractions went flying past her head. "There's no shortage of monsters here. Where are you?"

"On my way there," Cid said.

A few minutes later, he found himself at the fairgrounds. Tifa hadn't been kidding. The whole place was in an uproar, with smaller monsters chasing park visitors left and right, while larger ones did their best to tear the place up, ripping up cable cars and shop stands, tossing them about like toy miniatures. Other monsters, in an attempt to make meals of people enjoying the park rides, hung off the merry-go-rounds and tilt-a-whirls which, without anyone left to operate them, were gradually spinning out of control.

Some of the Monster World animatronics, too, were coming loose, causing the giant mechanical monstrosities to march out on to the streets, making it harder to discern the real monsters from the fake ones. And, to make matters worse, it seemed like every five minutes something was either exploding or catching on fire. No shortage of monsters, indeed.

The captain grinned, cracking his knuckles. "All right," he said. "I came here to kick ass and get shitfaced. And they don't serve drinks in here."

He threw himself into the fray, joining the others in pacifying the monsters, as they attempted to contain the outbreak and keep the rampaging creatures from the park visitors. Though the situation was dangerous, he would have been lying if he had said he wasn't enjoying himself.

Enjoying himself, that is, until he heard something crashing down behind him. He turned to see what it was. Whatever it was he was looking at, it was big, heavy, ugly, angry and mainly composed of teeth and tentacles, as far as he could tell.

Gnasher Senior.

"Oh, f-" Cid began, looking up at the towering beast.

He noticed Barret glaring at him. Marlene, he realized, was standing close by, well within earshot.

"...fiddlesticks," Cid finished.

"That's... uh.. big," Yuffie said, looking up at the hulking monster. It was at least twice the size of the one that had run off with her earlier in the night.

"All right, you mother... humper," Cid said, brandishing his halberd at the monster. "Let's see how tough you really are."

The monster roared, batting his halberd out of the captain's hands, causing it to stick to the wall on the far side of the room.

"Okay," Cid said, raising an eyebrow. "You're tough."

He rushed over to fetch his weapon while the others kept the giant monster busy, fending off a bunch of smaller monsters as he dislodged his weapon from the wall.

"..Bunch of mother-loving sons of beach-balls," he cursed at them.

"What's wrong with Cid?" Reeve asked, noting the captain's unusually weak insults.

"He's on 'parental protection' mode," Yuffie explained.

"Oh, right," Reeve said, spotting Marlene standing next to Barret.

The giant monster bellowed, causing everyone to cover their ears, then shambled off in the direction of the upper level. The Avalanchers, still caught up in the middle of the fight, decided to leave it for later, while they herded the rest of the monsters back inside the arena.

* * *

About an hour later, they had the situation contained, for the most part. They had managed to ward the monsters off, herding them back inside their cages, where they could be fed and contained. They found themselves at the promenade, overlooking the park entrance, searching for any stragglers which might still be ambling about the streets.

Yuffie examined the promotional billboard next to her. "Security by Nagai Enterprises," one of the ads said.

"Oh," she said, rolling her eyes. "Of course."

She looked up at Dio's office, spotting a large shadow moving towards it.

"Hey, Cloud.." she said. "You still have any salt with you?"

"A little," Cloud said. "Why?"

"I think I just spotted a loose end," Yuffie said. "Come on."

She led him away from the others, heading upstairs. Cid, meanwhile, spotted another shadow on the ground below.

"Be right back," he said to the others, drawing his halberd once again.

"Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker!" Cid shouted, leaping on top of the monster as it passed underneath the opening, skewering it through the head. The monster gave surprisingly little resistance to his assault, collapsing to the ground instantly.

The captain dislodged his weapon from the monster's head, leaping down onto the ground below. The monster, he thought, was giving off an awful lot of smoke..

* * *

Yuffie watched through the window of Dio's office, as the Golden Saucer's owner paced about the room in an agitated state. He seemed to be having some sort of argument with the other business magnate sitting at his desk.

"You're the one who set up this place's new security, Nagai," Dio said. "You cut corners on the design, and now look what's happened."

"This doesn't fall back on me, Dio," Nagai replied. "I have a reputation to maintain."

The other man reclined in his seat, tenting his fingers. "Now, as for the settlement," he said. "you can pay it out to one of my branches."

"You're the one who caused this whole mess, and you want _me_ to pay _you _for it?" Dio said, glaring at his rapacious companion. "Do you have any idea how many people got hurt tonight because of your actions?"

"You realize I can bankrupt you, right?" Nagai replied. "I make one phone call, and this whole place is scrap metal, and you're out on the streets, selling pencils from a cup."

Dio stopped in his tracks, returning to his seat.

"Or, we can find a way to look past all this," Nagai said, leaning in closer, "in a way that doesn't involve myself or my company. Which will it be?"

Dio looked down, defeated. "All right," he sighed. "You win."

"Good," Nagai said, producing a piece of paper from his suitcase. "Now, just sign here.."

As he made to hand Dio a pen with which to sign their agreement, a monster came bursting into the office, shredding Dio's file cabinets and sending his collection of trophies and oddities spilling every which way onto the floor. The two men fell off their chairs, with Dio taking cover behind his desk.

"What _is_ that thing?" Nagai asked.

"Gnasher Senior," Dio informed him.

"What?!" Nagai replied.

"One of those things _you_ unleashed," Dio shouted.

But there was little time to argue about who was at fault. The monster before them looked hungry, and, by the look of it, the two businessmen in front of it looked like a very tasty meal.

As it was about to lunge at them, someone came crashing in through the window behind Dio's desk.

"Eat salt!" Yuffie shouted, throwing a pouch full of the stuff at the monster. The monster recoiled as the substance came into contact with its skin, looking as though it would burst at any minute.

"Oh, crap," Yuffie said, realizing that it was about to do just that.

"Jump!" she shouted. Cloud caught hold of Dio, escorting him out of the office, while Yuffie leapt out the window with Nagai in tow.

The monster exploded into fleshy chunks, flooding all corners of Dio's office with bits of flesh and ichorous fluids of every kind. It looked like Dio's cleaning crews would have their hands full for the next few weeks.

"Thank you, miss.." Nagai said, looking up at his rescuer, her face coming into focus as he put his spectacles back on.

"...Kisaragi?"

Yuffie grinned, recognizing one of her suitors from the day before. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"Uh, no..." Nagai said, his face turning white as his mind replayed a flashback of her little fireworks display back in Wutai for him. "I... just... ah... need to be somewhere that's... not here," he stammered, backing away from her.

"What's the matter, Nagai?" Yuffie asked. "You shouldn't get so _fired_ up. You never know when you might _burn_ out."

Nagai gulped. "Ah.."

She took another step towards him, as he continued to back away. "But you know... You really should think twice about cutting corners on your next business venture," she said. "You never know when something like that might _blow up_ in your face," she added, a wolf-like grin appearing on her face.

Her last comment was enough to send him over the edge. Nagai went into hysterics, scarpering off into the distance. Yuffie snickered, as her former would-be suitor fled, knocking over several other patrons as he bolted off into the distance.

Cloud looked over at her. "You're evil," he said.

"I am _not_," Yuffie protested. "I'm just... you know, morally challenged."

She put on a fake pout, picking at his shirt. "Does that mean you don't like me anymore?" she asked. "You thinking of leaving me?"

Cloud sighed, then wrapped his arms around her, smiling. "Never."

Her pout quickly turned into a grin. "I knew it," she said. "You're mine."

"Yes," Cloud replied. "But you're on a short leash from now on."

"Ooh... a leash, huh?" Yuffie replied, another mischievous grin forming on her face. "I didn't know you were into kinky stuff like that, Spikes."

"Well.." he replied, feigning innocence, making her laugh. He had learned long ago that if she was teasing him, the best response was to tease her right back.

They shared their second kiss on the promenade. The whole park still seemed to be falling apart from the damage it had taken during the riot, with electrical sparks from the lights above still scattering down onto the ground next to them, but at least there were no monsters to interrupt them this time. The floor around them lit up, as one of the fireworks machines in the distance went off.

"Funny," Reeve said, crossing his arms. "I never quite figured on those two getting together."

"Makes sense to me," Cid said, shrugging. "I mean... he's crazy. She's crazy. Let's face it, they're perfect for each other."

"Yes," Vincent said. "I'm sure they'll go together like nitro and glycerin."

* * *

Cid stood next to his quarry, halberd in one hand, cigarette in the other, looking rather pleased with himself. He kept one leg propped up on top of the dead monster's head, content to stand there while he waited for the others to return to the tram station.

Dio approached the captain, scratching the back of his head, looking rather flustered. "Well, congratulations, Mr. Highwind," he said. "You just killed 100,000 gils' worth of animatronics."

Cid's face fell. "You're shittin' me."

The look on Dio's face told him that he was, in fact, not.

"A little help, guys?" Cid said, looking over to the others. "Anyone with deep pockets?"

"Don't look at me," Yuffie said, raising her hands. "I'm dead to my family."

Nib approached the captain, handing him a bill for the damage done, then walked off again. The captain's face grew red as his eyes ran over the total cost. He marched back over to the giant animatronic monster, letting off a torrent of verbal abuse, a rapid-fire string of expletives that would have made a millworker blush.

"You stupid goddamn piece of sh-" he shouted, kicking the dead animatronic monster's head over and over again. Even for Cid, this latest series of imprecations was impressively colourful, replete with injunctions about sharp obects and where to shove them. If nothing else, it had to be a new record for how many times someone had managed to fit the f-word into the space of five minutes.

It was only when he finally began to calm down again that he realized that there was someone looking up at him. It was Marlene, standing right behind him, mouth agape. Apparently, she had caught every last word of his profanity-laden rant... as had Barret, who was standing next to her, his face looking like a kettle coming to a boil.

"Honey," Barret said, with as much calm as he could muster. "Daddy needs to have another talk with uncle Cid."

He glared at the captain, clenching his fist. "A _hard_ talk."

Cid's eyes went wide. He bolted off into the distance, with Barret hot on his heels, swinging his gun-arm at his head. The captain could be surprisingly fast on his feet when his life was at stake, and right now, that looked to be the case. The others stood off to the side, close to the exit trams, doing their best to stay out of their way.

With her legal guardian momentarily occupied, Cloud and Yuffie were left keeping an eye on Marlene. "Uncle Cloud..." Marlene said, turning to him. "What's a mother-humper?"

"...I'll explain later," Cloud replied, patting the little girl on the head. Yuffie stifled a laugh. Even a cuss word like that sounded cute coming from little Marlene.

"It's always later.." Marlene grumbled, crossing her arms.

"You mother... You get back here!" Barret called after Cid. "I ain't done with you yet!"

"Not 'till you calm down!" Cid replied.

"I'll calm _you_ the hell down!" Barret shouted.

"This might take a while," Yuffie said, watching the ongoing chase.

"Haunted house ride, anyone?" Cloud asked, looking over at the others.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Sorry to keep you guys... er, waiting. I'm beginning to think that I finally picked an appropriate name for one of my stories. Anyway, that concludes the silliest chapter of this story. Probably the silliest thing I've written so far. I culled the title and other ideas from old B-movies like "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and "I Was a Teenage Werewolf". That, and probably one too many episodes of "Mystery Science Theater" and "The Goon Show". The following chapters are probably going to be a bit more serious, although I don't want to give up the 'comedy' part just yet.

Now, I can't make any promises as to when the next update is coming. Suffice it to say that there are a lot of real life things calling for my attention right now. Anyway, thanks for reading. Leave a review if you'd like to see more of this story, or if you have any questions or comments. Cheers.


	5. Aurora

**Waiting**

**Chapter 5  
****Aurora**

* * *

Although it was still a little early in the year, they decided to make the northern continent their next stop. On their way towards the frozen wastes up north, they visited the lost city of the Ancients, taking a moment to pay their respects, as they always did whenever they passed through the area.

The eight of them were gathered at the pool of water which Cloud has chosen as Aerith's final resting place. Even though they were certain that her body no longer remained there, they still visited the place annually. They had come to think of it as a cenotaph of sorts, a place where they would gather each year to commemorate their victory, and to remember the fallen. The place had an undeniable, numinous atmosphere that permeated the whole of the spectral forest, its unearthly, pale azure growth standing in stark contrast to its brighter surroundings.

It was Vincent's turn to lead the ceremony, which he did with solemnity and grace. Reeve and Tifa walked among the others, pouring a small drink for everyone as Vincent spoke.

"For absent friends," Vincent said, raising his glass.

"For absent friends," the others repeated.

"They gave their all, so that we might live on," Vincent continued. "And though we cannot bring them back, we can honour their memories by living lives worthy of their sacrifice."

Cloud glanced over at Yuffie, remembering the last time they had been here. She had nearly bawled her eyes out that time, when their friend had been slain before their very eyes, and she'd turned to him for comfort, weeping on his shoulder for a few moments, before running out of the underground chamber.

Though he did not show it, he had been just as devastated by Aerith's sudden departure. In a way, he was grateful to Yuffie for being able to show her feelings in a way that he never could. She had mourned for both of them, at a time when his mind had been as much occupied with revenge as with reverence. Even now, as Vincent eulogized their fallen comrades, she seemed to be on the verge of tears once again, the memories flooding back into her mind as he spoke.

Cloud reached out for her hand, giving it a light squeeze, his touch bringing a faint smile to her face. She looked up at him, wiping the tears from her eyes, still distraught, but clearly feeling a little better as a result of his gesture.

Though he had longed for it for quite some time, he had come to realize that it was foolish to wish for some sort of closure. Closure meant letting go, after all. Perhaps letting go wasn't the point, anyway, so much as remembering those they had lost with fondness. Aerith was far from being the only friend they had lost during their struggles, but her death here at the hands of their nemesis had been the one most deeply felt, the one that seemed to encompass all of their mutual sacrifices, and to imbue them with a sense of finality.

He wondered if she and their other friends were still watching over the survivors of all these tribulations somewhere in the afterlife, or if they were now simply beyond all earthly concerns.

"To good life," Vincent said, raising his glass in a toast, bookending the ceremony.

"To good life," the others responded, raising their glasses in turn.

The ceremony concluded, they walked down the path leading outside, heading back towards the airship awaiting them at the edge of the city.

* * *

A few hours later, they arrived at their destination, parking the Highwind on the outskirts of Icicle Village. The airship drew quite a bit of attention from the villagers, the adults as well as the children, who were not used to a spectacle such as this.

Inside the ship's storage bay, the Avalanchers were busy packing their winter gear, putting on warm clothing and preparing for the last leg of their impromptu vacation.

As they finished their preparations, Cid stumbled out of his cabin at long last. The bleary-eyed captain shuffled across the floor, looking more unkempt than usual. Being that unkempt was his usual manner, this was something of an achievement. A mangled cigarette hung from his mouth, his hair was unruly, his chin even less shaven than most days, and, in addition to all of this, he wore nothing other than a pair of boxer shorts. The others weren't sure if he hadn't noticed or simply didn't care, though knowing Cid, it was probably the latter.

He strode right past the others, paying them no attention, heading straight for the coffee machine at the far end of the room. It did not seem like he was planning to go anywhere with the rest of the team.

"I take it you'll not be joining us today?" Vincent asked.

"Nah, Shera and I are thinking about staying aboard the Highwind," Cid replied. "You know, for some 'personal R&R'... if you know what I mean," he added, with a salacious grin.

Coffee mug in hand, the captain ambled back inside his quarters. A moment passed, before he returned, leaning his head in through the doorway.

"I mean sex," he added, grinning, before disappearing through the doorway again.

"...Yeah, thanks." Yuffie said. "We gathered."

* * *

Some time later, they were down in the village, at the small cluster of houses overlooking the slopes leading down to the frozen wastes below the Northern Crater. The secluded hamlet was home to steep mountain ranges, arctic wildlife, and winter air cold enough, as Cid had put it upon their first visit, to 'freeze the balls off a brass monkey'.

Looking out over the slopes, Cloud thought about the last time they had been here. They'd had no airship that time, and it was only after a grim slog through the desolate winter landscape that they had finally arrived at this small haven. Their stay was cut short, however, by the arrival of Shinra and the Turks, which forced them to keep moving north.

Yuffie had suggested that she and Cloud repeat their little escapade, by going snowboarding. The last time around, it had been out of necessity. This time, it might actually be fun. Their plan was to take a quick run down the slopes, then meet the others back at the village's winter lodge in time for dinner. There was fresh powder on the slopes, and Yuffie was already climbing the railings, preparing to take off.

"Well be fine as long as we don't go over the edge this time," she said. "Come on. I'll race you to the bottom."

She launched herself down the slope, and he followed close behind, casting the others a quick glance, before taking off as well.

Denzel and Marlene wasted no time befriending the other children in the village. Tifa and Vincent watched as they joined in a snowball fight that had been going since early morning.

"Don't run off too far," Tifa cautioned them. "They say there might be a blizzard coming."

"Okay!" Marlene replied.

Tifa sat down at a table near the cliff side. Reeve, Nanaki and Barret had gone off to the lodge to rent rooms for the night, leaving her and Vincent in charge of the children for the time being.

"Gods, it must have been ages since we did something like that," Tifa said, watching the children as they played in the snow.

"Indeed," Vincent replied.

Tifa glanced over at the gunman, who was standing behind her. There was something in his hands. A snowball.

To see Vincent, of all people, packing snow together into a ball, looking as though he was giving serious consideration to throwing it at her..

_"He can't be serious,"_ Tifa thought.

Vincent was not exactly the playful type, and yet, there was a sardonic side to him that would sometimes hint at mischief hiding under the surface. He might just have it in him, she realized.

"Don't you dare," she said.

Vincent folded his hands behind his back. "I wouldn't dream of it," he replied.

Tifa turned her attention back to the kids. A moment later, something cold struck her on the shoulder. She wiped the snow residue from her coat, turning to glare at Vincent, who was doing his best to look innocent, his hands now conspicuously empty.

"Oh, you are _dead_," Tifa said, chuckling, reaching down for a handful of snow, before chasing him off into the distance.

* * *

Cid entered the Highwind's bridge, carrying a bottle of wine in one hand and a pair of glasses in the other. The lights had been dimmed, creating a more intimate atmosphere than was the norm for the airship's interior. At the far end of the bridge, Shera sat atop the control panel, waiting for him, clad only in a simple nightgown. Neither of them had bothered to get dressed all day. There was little need to worry about modesty, now that they had the whole ship to themselves.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Cid Air. We may be experiencing some slight turbulence tonight, so strap yourselves in, and prepare for the ride of your lives."

Shera guffawed, nearly keeling over with laughter.

"What?" Cid asked.

"Nothing," Shera replied, still laughing. "Get over here."

Cid grinned. "Yes, ma'am."

He poured them each a glass of wine. They touched glasses, downing their drinks before discarding them, leaning in a little closer to each other.

"Will there be anything else for you tonight, miss?" Cid asked.

"Just you," Shera said, smiling, pulling him closer. She let out a happy sigh as he pressed his lips against the nape of her neck.

"Baby, I'm gonna fly you to the moon and back," Cid said.

He pressed down, leaning her over the switchboard. As he did, one of the buttons on the panel made a clicking noise. A second later, there came a loud rumble, sounding like an explosion in the distance.

Shera's eyes flew open. "What was that?" she asked, looking up.

"Foreplay," Cid replied.

"Are you sure?" Shera asked. "I thought I heard something.."

"You've got me revved up, is all," Cid said, pressing her back down as he continued to shower her with kisses.

"No, I _definitely_ heard something," Shera said, pushing him away, fending off his advances. Cid grunted, annoyed by the interruption.

They looked outside the window to see a plume of smoke rising from one of the nearby mountaintops.

"...Why is there smoke coming from over there?" Shera asked.

She glanced over at the control panel. A helpful status message was printed on its tiny screen: "Missile launch successful."

"Oh," Shera said, flustered. "Oh, dear.."

"It's okay, hon," Cid said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure that mountain wasn't important," he added, sounding as unconvinced as she looked.

* * *

"Come on, slowpoke!" Yuffie called, jumping off one of the slope's numerous snow mounds, pulling off a tricky air manoeuvre with such ease and grace that it made Cloud wonder if she had been putting in practice without anyone knowing.

As they raced down the steep and narrow slope, he thought he could hear a rumbling noise coming from behind them.

"Did you hear something?" he asked, looking over at Yuffie.

"What?" Yuffie called back.

"I said, did you.." he repeated, before trailing off. It was difficult to hear one another over the noise of their boards grinding against the ice, and he might just have been hearing things.

"Never mind," he said.

"Okay," Yuffie replied.

They kept going for a few more minutes, with Yuffie leading the charge, taking risks and pulling crazy stunts, clearly in her element. She was lighter and faster than he was, but her insistence on pulling off tricks at every opportunity allowed him to catch up to her from time to time.

As they continued their descent, the rumbling noise grew louder. He wasn't just imagining it. Turning his head to look back, Cloud saw a mountain of snow coming down the hill after them.

"Avalanche!" he shouted.

"I know!" Yuffie called back. "We're awesome, right? Go Avalanche!" she shouted, pumping her fist in the air, thinking that he was making some sort of a battle cry.

"No! A _real_ avalanche!" Cloud shouted, pointing behind them.

Her eyes went wide as she finally looked behind her. "Oh, crap.." she whispered.

She looked over at him, her demeanour changing from amusement to panic. "What do we do?" she called.

"Just keep going!" he called back.

"Where?!"

"Anywhere!"

Though they tried to get away, they both knew that there was nowhere for them to go except further down, and that all that awaited them at the end of the slope was a long drop down the cliff at its terminus. But it was either that or being buried underneath the rushing snow, which was edging closer by the second.

Before they could come up with any other plan, they reached the edge of the cliff, going over it just as the avalanche overtook them.

* * *

"All right, I give up."

Vincent raised his hands in mock surrender, capitulating as Tifa and the children continued to gang up on him, pelting him with one snowball after another, forcing him down to the ground with their relentless assault.

"Serves you right," Tifa said, patting her hands together.

The children cheered, having finally toppled their opponent. The snowball fight, which had involved all the children in the village, was coming to a close as the sun went down, and people returned to their homes.

"Well, I think we'd better head inside for the night," Vincent said, rising up and dusting the snow from his coat. "It looks like that blizzard's hitting, after all."

The Avalanchers gathered at the winter lodge. Tifa wandered about the entrance hall, taking a quick head count. "Red, Marlene, Denzel.."

"That's everyone, right?" Reeve asked.

"Wait, what about Cloud and Yuffie?" Nanaki said. "Anyone seen them?"

"Not since they went down the slopes," Vincent said.

"Strange," Nanaki said. "You'd think they'd be back by now."

"I'll give them a call, see how they're doing," Tifa said.

She waited for a few moments, while her phone rang, growing dismayed as her call went unanswered. Even after several rings, there was no response. She tried calling them again. Same nothing.

"Strange..." she said. "There's no answer."

"I'm sure they'll surface soon enough," Vincent said.

Their worries were momentarily forgotten as Reeve returned to the lobby, carrying a tray filled with refreshments. "All right, who wants cocoa?"

Denzel and Marlene jumped up and down, eager to get at the snacks. The Avalanchers took their seats, gathering around one of the lodge's big, circular tables, enjoying the meal and each other's company.

Tifa glanced out the window, still feeling a little worried. It was growing dark outside, and the weather was getting worse by the minute. She hoped it wouldn't be long before her friends came back in from the cold.

* * *

He felt like he was awake, but he couldn't be sure. Though he had forced his eyes open, he could see nothing but pure white in front of him. A cold wind howled. He was faintly aware of something beeping in the distance.

Turning on his side, he saw a light blinking on and off in the snow next to him. His phone.

He closed his eyes again for a second, wondering where he was. They had been in danger, he remembered. Perhaps they still were.

His eyes snapped open, as consciousness gradually returned to him. Lucid once more, Cloud pressed himself up from the snow. The landscape was a familiar one, and yet, the blanket of white snow that enveloped the fields surrounding him made it impossible to pinpoint exactly where he was, or to discern one direction from another. A snow-white wasteland, with no end in sight.

Yuffie lay on the ground, unmoving, half-buried in the snow, not too far from where he was. Making his way over to her, he knelt down, pulling her up out of the snow, turning her over on her back. From what he could tell, she had hit her head quite hard during the landing. Her skin was cold as ice. There was no breathing. No pulse.

_She wasn't breathing._

"No," he said. "No, no, no, no... Come on. Breathe," Cloud whispered. He leaned over her motionless body, alternating between rhythmic thrusts against her chest and exhaling short breaths of air into her mouth, administering the emergency procedure as best he could remember how to do.

The thought occurred to him briefly of what her father might do to him if he found out that he had gotten his daughter killed on some foolish misadventure. But his own safety didn't concern him. He was concerned only with her life, which was rapidly fading away. He knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he let something happen to her as a result of carelessness on his part.

After a few moments of sheer panic, Yuffie convulsed, coughing and turning on her side. Cloud breathed a sigh of relief as she opened her eyes. She looked up at him, disoriented, but alive. She didn't speak, but the look in her eyes went from one of confusion to one of gratitude. He didn't say anything, either. It was doubtful that they would be able to hear each other over the rising storm, and they both knew what the other wanted to say.

The snowstorm was intensifying, growing worse by the minute. The two of them would almost certainly freeze to death if they stayed outside much longer. He remembered that there was a log cabin near the base of the cliff, where they might be able to take shelter from the storm. With this in mind, Cloud picked Yuffie up in his arms and carried her towards the lone building in the distance.

Kicking the door open, he walked inside, then laid Yuffie down on the couch near the fireplace, before shutting the door again. The inside of the cabin was freezing, much like the outside, but at least they were out of the storm. He set about building a fire, while Yuffie gathered her senses. There was little they could do for the time being, other than try to keep warm.

* * *

Shera turned on her side in bed. It was growing late in the evening, and yet she couldn't sleep. Neither could Cid. He reached over to her, kissing her on the back of the neck, pulling her closer.

"You want to go _again_?" Shera asked. "How many times is that today?"

"Hell, I stopped counting after six," Cid replied.

Shera giggled, turning to face him, returning the kiss. The two of them pulled the blankets over their heads, moving closer to each other.

As they curled up together under the covers, the phone started to ring.

"Aw, just ignore it," Cid said.

The phone continued to ring, and they continued to ignore it to the best of their ability. Then it rang again. And again.

"I think you'd better get that," Shera said.

Cid sighed. "Kids these days... Can't do without me for five minutes," he muttered, fumbling for the receiver as the phone continued to ring. "What?" he said, picking up the phone.

"Cid, we've got a problem," Tifa's voice came. "It's Yuffie and Cloud.."

"What about'em?" Cid asked, sitting up.

"They're missing," Tifa said.

* * *

Yuffie sat by the roaring fire, a dry towel wrapped around her shoulders. She had discarded most of her clothes, save for her underwear, leaving them to dry on the nearby rack. She held a poker in one hand, stoking the embers. The cabin was slowly growing warmer, and the accumulated snow and ice inside of it had begun to melt away. Cloud returned from the kitchen, having made them something warm to drink.

"Here," Cloud said, handing her a cup of coffee.

"Thanks," Yuffie replied, accepting the cup.

He sat down next to her, and the two of them sipped their coffee in silence for a few moments, before she spoke up again.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"For what?" Cloud asked.

"Everything," Yuffie said. "It's my fault we got into this whole mess in the first place. With my dad, the Saucer, and now this... It's been one giant screw-up from day one. And I'm the one who dragged us into it. So... I'm sorry."

"I'm not," Cloud said.

Yuffie looked at him, not sure what he meant.

"You know, these past few days.." Cloud said. "Even if things haven't gone exactly the way we expected them to... I don't think I'd have it any other way. I don't remember having this much fun in a long time. It's been just what I needed. And it's all thanks to you."

"...You mean it?" Yuffie asked.

The look in his eyes told her he was being sincere. He nodded, smiling at her. Relieved, she smiled back.

She turned away, looking out the window. Not that there was much to see. Between the darkness and the ceaseless snowstorm, it felt like they were enveloped in their own little world, the last two people alive in the whole universe.

"How long do you think it'll be before they find us?" she asked.

"It could be a while," Cloud said. "We'll have to wait for the storm to die down, at least. Good news is, it looks like we've got some supplies in the back, so we should be okay."

Yuffie nodded, then grimaced, pressing a hand against the back of her neck.

"You all right?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah.." she replied. "It's just... my neck still kinda hurts.."

He reached out, massaging the back of her neck with one hand. "That better?" he asked.

She nodded, letting out a sigh of contentment. Despite their circumstances, she felt safe, at ease.

His hands moved further down, massaging her shoulders, kneading away the tension in her muscles. Yuffie sighed again, leaning back into his arms, feeling relaxed and content. She turned to face him, pressing her lips against his. He returned the kiss, cupping her face in his hands, drawing her body closer to his.

As he did, the towel wrapped around her shoulders came loose, slipping away, falling to the floor. She didn't mind. They were both too caught up in each other's embrace to notice. Their kisses grew more passionate and intense as they peeled off each other's clothes, deriving heat from the motion as their bodies melded together.

Then, just as their foreplay was reaching its climax, Yuffie suddenly drew back, turning away from Cloud, covering her bare bosom with one arm, her cheeks flushed.

"What's wrong?" Cloud asked.

"I... I've never.." Yuffie stammered, blushing profusely.

She was being strangely demure, he thought, unwilling to spell it out for him, though he could guess as to what she wanted to say.

"It's okay," Cloud said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We don't have to do anything you don't want to."

He looked at her earnestly, maintaining a respectful distance. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel uncomfortable, or to force her into something she wasn't ready for.

She took his hand, moving in close again. "I didn't say I didn't want to. Just.."

Cloud nodded. "Okay. We'll be careful."

She smiled at him, then leaned in for another kiss. Moments later, they were laying on the floor, making love in front of the blazing fire. As it was their first time together, the experience was somewhat awkward, but still enjoyable. Yuffie grimaced slightly at the beginning, but the pain was soon washed away by waves of pleasure.

Later, when they had both caught their breath again, they got up, staggering into the bedroom. They noticed that there was a small shower installed in the bathroom. Cloud went to turn on the water heater, while Yuffie searched for fresh towels they could use.

As the water reached the right temperature, Cloud stepped inside, washing off some of the grime he had accumulated during their trip down into the valley.

"Room for one more?" Yuffie asked, slipping inside the narrow shower next to him, the tiny enclosure barely fitting the two of them.

"I think we can manage," Cloud said, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her in close for another kiss. Their bodies merged again as they washed themselves and each other, unable to take their eyes or hands off one another for even a moment.

As they stepped out of the shower again, Cloud lifted Yuffie up off her feet, carrying her to the bed, where they made love for a second time.

This time, it was perfect.

* * *

"Any sign of them?" Tifa asked.

"No, not yet," Cid said. "Not that we're going to be able to see much in this weather."

The Avalanchers were back aboard the Highwind, flying over the arctic sector. Nanaki had stayed behind in the lodge to watch over Denzel and Marlene, but the rest of the team was assembled aboard the airship's bridge, eager to aid in the search for their missing friends. So far, they were having no luck.

"No phones. No radio contact, either," Reeve said. "It doesn't look good.."

"I'm sure they're okay," Vincent said, in an attempt to alleviate Tifa's worry.

"In any case, we should turn in for the night," he added. "Cid's right. We'll have a better chance of finding them tomorrow."

Tifa nodded. She didn't like the idea of having to put off the search until morning, but there was little else they could do. Reluctantly, she retired to her quarters, and her friends did the same, leaving the ship on auto-pilot for the night.

* * *

"It's strange," Cloud said.

"What is?" Yuffie asked.

The two of them were curled up in the warm bed, laying side by side. They had stayed up for some time, talking and enjoying each other's company, but they were both growing tired, and it would not be much longer before they were sound asleep.

"It feels like we've been holding back all this time, while life passed us by," Cloud said. "Waiting, you know?"

"Yeah.." Yuffie replied. "I know what you mean."

She kissed him goodnight. He cradled her in his arms, and they proceeded to drift off to sleep, exhausted from the day's events.

"...While you're waiting for moments that never come," Yuffie murmured, half-asleep.

* * *

The morning greeted them with bright sunshine, in stark contrast to the bleakness of the night before.

"Hey," Cloud said, smiling at Yuffie as she opened her eyes. Two locks of hair stood up on either side of her head, giving her the impression of a newly woken imp. She _was_ an imp, he thought... and an angel, too.

"Hey, yourself," she replied, smiling back.

Now that it was properly heated, the cabin was becoming quite cozy, and, despite how they had gotten there, their stay had been an enjoyable one, overall. Their accommodations were comfortable, and it was the best night's sleep that either of them could remember, to say nothing of the acts that preceded it. All in all, it was a pleasant ending to a disastrous journey.

"Can we just stay here?" Yuffie asked, resting her head on Cloud's shoulder. "I mean, the world's not going to miss us for a few days, right?"

"I like the way you think," Cloud said, pulling her closer, pressing a kiss against her forehead.

Their peaceful reverie was broken up, however, as someone started banging on the cabin door. There was a brief pause, followed by some cursing, before someone smashed the door in, frustrated with being unable to get it open.

"Goddamn, it's colder than a polar bear's clit out here.." Cid grumbled as he barged in through the doorway. It wasn't until he had finished wiping the splinters off his jacket that he spotted the couple in their state of undress and intimacy.

"Oh, uh... 'scuse me," Cid said, averting his eyes.

Startled, they drew the covers over their naked forms, blushing.

"Uh... I'll just wait outside then, shall I?" Cid said, stepping outside the cabin again, herding the other Avalanche members away from the door as he left.

Cloud and Yuffie looked at each other for a moment, then laughed.

"So... um... Where did we leave our clothes again?" Yuffie asked.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

This story tends to alternate between seriousness and silliness, though hopefully not to the point of inducing mood whiplash. It's all by design, trust me. Anyway, this chapter was a bit difficult to write. Romance isn't my strong side, as you can probably guess. Also, the adverbs have slowly started to creep back into my tawdry scribblings. Ah, well.

The last chapter was a mite chaotic and silly, but in trying to give a conspectus of what these characters' lives might be like after their big adventure is concluded, it seemed appropriate. There's still crises for them to deal with, if not exactly on the same scale as before. In contrast, the following chapters will move the story into somewhat more somber territory, as we reach the denouement. There are about two more chapters to go. They're already partly written, though I'm not sure when I'll have the time to wrap them up. Hopefully sooner rather than later. In the meantime, thanks for reading. Please leave a review if you have any questions or comments, or if you just feel like cracking the whip, so to speak. Cheers.


	6. Keepsake

**Waiting**

**Chapter 6  
****Keepsake**

* * *

The phrase "fish out of water" sprang to mind yet again, as it had done throughout the whole day. Yuffie hoped she didn't look as ill at ease as she felt, seated at the far end of the conference table, her small frame standing in stark contrast with the throng of grizzled, old political veterans that made up Wutai's ruling council.

The reason she was back in Wutai was that her father had taken ill. The doctors assured her that his condition was not critical, but he would be out of commission for the next few weeks, perhaps even months. In the meantime, by Wutai law, rulership fell to her, as did the responsibility of governance.

She had been allowed back into the country on the condition that she not handle fire materia, fireworks, firearms, fire ants, fire hoses or utter the word "fire" while at home ever again. It was a promise which she had solemnly and sincerely made, albeit with fingers crossed behind her back.

Her head had been spinning all day, as she wrestled with getting up to speed on her country's political wheelings and dealings. The council ministers bandied about unfamiliar words and concepts in a breezy manner, which didn't do much to help her confusion. Neither did the stifling atmosphere in the smoke-filled room, which made her feel nauseated, in addition to being completely out of her depth. But she decided that if she was going to be stuck in stuffy, boring meetings for the next few weeks, she was going to try to make some positive changes while she was there.

It wasn't as easy as she had first thought it would be. Along with trying to catch up on all the different political issues, she had also been trying to work out the hidden alliances between the different ministers. Unfortunately, whatever their individual differences, they they all seemed to be aligned against her, regardless of the issue at hand, which meant that most of her attempts to make any kind of positive change were met with stony silence, or outright contempt.

The atmosphere in the room was hostile. Few of the ministers liked her, and the feeling was mutual. She knew the day was coming when she had to deal with all of this. She had just hoped it would be further off. But there was nothing to be done about that now. All she could do was keep trying. With that in mind, she spoke up again.

"We need to consider a new form of government," Yuffie said.

"How so?" one of the ministers replied. "Are you implying that the one we have now is somehow inadequate?"

"No," Yuffie said, "but we can't pretend that we're out here on our own any more. We have to start co-operating more with the rest of the world. That means building bridges.."

"And whoever whispered that idea in your ear?" another one of the ministers inquired, interrupting her. "Your little Shinra pet?"

Yuffie scowled. If there was anything that the ministers liked less than the idea of having to take orders from her, it was her relationship with Cloud. She did her best to ignore the snide remark. She didn't expect them to understand, or to warm up to either of them any time soon.

The question had been directed at her by Toshiro, one of the senior members of the board. Toshiro had always been one of the most belligerent and hard-headed members of the council, an ageing warmonger whose lengthy and tiresome diatribes would put her in a state of borderline catalepsy. In his official capacity, he was merely one of her father's many "advisors". In practice, however, he held the most power and authority out of anyone on the council, aside from the emperor himself. Between his wealth and his political ties, he wielded nearly as much influence as her father did, and he did not much care for her, or her father, for that matter.

Though officially a monarchy, Wutai was, in essence, an oligarchy, and the council ministers all held great sway over the country's political process. "To keep the emperor's powers in check", they assured her. She wondered if that was really true. The influence they held had certainly not harmed their coffers, at any rate. It didn't help that, within the confines of the council, Toshiro and his colleagues held the highest combined authority, including veto power over the rest of the council, which made it all but impossible for anyone else to influence the political process, aside from her father, who knew how to deal with such matters.

"I don't see how that's relevant," Yuffie replied. "Now, as I was saying, we need to build bridges with the outside world."

"Wutai doesn't need help from outsiders," Toshiro said, leaning back in his seat, fanning himself. "We are more than self-sufficient."

"The last time someone said that, we got our asses handed to us when we had to fight a war," Yuffie reminded him. "Because we'd been trying to ignore the rest of the world for centuries."

"The reason we got into a war in the first place is because we let ourselves get involved in the business of outsiders," Toshiro countered. "No, if anything, now is the time to limit the amount of foreign influence on our great nation," he continued. "It would be best if we could cut ourselves off from the outside world altogether."

Toshiro's remarks were met by nods and murmurs of approval by the other ministers.

"Yeah, great plan.." Yuffie muttered under her breath. "Because that worked out so well for us last time."

Wutai's initial relations with Shinra had been amicable enough, but when the latter began to make it clear that it was after Wutai's natural resources, the friction started. Shinra had a much greater arsenal, and a far greater understanding of materia and mako power. As a result, they had not even bothered with gunboat diplomacy, instead opting to take the country over through superior firepower and technology in a brief, but bloody, invasion. Yuffie was determined not to let Wutai repeat that particular piece of history.

"Traditions must be obeyed," Toshiro said. "They are not to be diluted by the influence of outsiders who do not understand our ways." he added with smug assuredness. Again, his remarks were met with general approval by the rest of the council.

Yuffie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. _"Fossils, every last one of them,"_ she thought. "Again with the 'traditions' crap," she said out loud. "Why are you people so obsessed with tradition, anyway? Most traditions are just bad habits that no-one's ever had the guts to question."

The stern looks on the ministers' faces told her that she was the only one in the room who thought so.

"With all due respect, Miss Kisaragi, we would not expect someone so young to understand," Toshiro said. "Trust me, the old ways are the best."

More nods and murmurs of approval.

"The fate of our nation must be decided by people with the knowledge and the authority to lead, after all," Toshiro said.

"And who gave you that authority in the first place?" Yuffie asked. "No-one. You were born with it. We all were. Why don't you ask the people outside what they think of that?"

"The masses have their place," Toshiro replied. "And that place is not in here. We'll have no more talk of that. We cannot risk the loss of our independence through compromises with the outside world or meddling from peasants and rubes."

"We only regained our independence because Shinra lost their interest in us," Yuffie replied. "And because we worked with others to bring them down. And it was my friends and I who made it happen."

"Yes, I'm sure you did everything in your power to help," Toshiro said. "It's not like you were off chasing colourful baubles or anything like that."

Yuffie balked at the man's thinly veiled insult. She opened her mouth, about to give him a real piece of her mind, when Chekov, her retainer, stepped in.

"Gentlemen," he said. "I believe we're all getting tired. I suggest we reconvene this meeting tomorrow."

There were grunts and murmurs of approval, followed by creaking and groaning from the floorboards as the council members got up from the table and filtered out of the room.

"Is this why they don't allow weapons inside the council chamber?" Yuffie asked, turning to Chekov.

"Yes," Chekov replied.

* * *

Outside in the corridor, Toshiro stood near the exit, talking with his colleagues. As she passed by, Yuffie couldn't help but overhear their conversation.

"Did you hear what she said?" one of the ministers asked.

"'Build bridges with the outside world'? Naive, idealistic twaddle," said another.

"Asinine fatuity is more like it," said a third.

"She's even worse than her father."

"What can you expect from a child?"

"She's never even stepped inside the council chambers before," Toshiro said. "Never taken an interest in the fate of our great nation. And now we're supposed to take orders from _her_? What could she possibly know about our country and its needs?"

Toshiro spoke just loud enough for her to hear him. As he spoke to his colleagues, he would glance at her from time to time, as if to ensure that she caught his words.

His behaviour made her blood boil, but there was nothing she could do about it. Naturally, the thought of foregoing propriety in favour of burying a shuriken between his eyes had crossed her mind more than once, but no matter how satisfying that might be, it wouldn't change anything. If she was going to make any real difference, she would have to play by the ministers' rules. But what stung most of all was the knowledge that they were, in some sense, right. The realm of politics, even that of her native land, was a world wholly unfamiliar to her.

Toshiro broke off from the group for a moment, walking towards her.

"Toshiro," Yuffie said, stiffening up as the man approached her.

"Miss Kisaragi," Toshiro replied.

"That's 'Lady Kisaragi' to you," Yuffie replied. Though she was not much for formalities, she was willing to make an exception in his case. It was the least she could do.

"All well and good," Toshiro said, offering a smile that radiated insincerity. "Tell me... how are you adjusting to your new role?"

Yuffie let out a sigh. "To be honest, it's a lot to take in."

"I'll bet it is," Toshiro replied. "Not what you're used to at all, I expect."

"You're not exactly making things easy, either," Yuffie said, looking up at the old man.

"Well, we don't mean to make you uncomfortable," Toshiro said, stroking his graying beard. "But this is a tough job, and it's not for everyone. Not to worry, though. You'll be out of here as soon as your father is well again."

The old man leaned in closer. "Besides... we both know you don't really belong here," he whispered to her, then drew back again, grinning.

"Now, why don't you run along and play with your little trinkets?" he added. "Leave the politics to the adults."

Having finished humiliating her, Toshiro turned back to his colleagues. The group of ministers burst into loud peals of laughter as they continued to talk about some matter or another. Yuffie had had about all she could take. The man had been boorish and obstructive toward her for the better part of the day, both directly and indirectly, but she hadn't expected him to reveal his disdain for her in such a bald-faced manner.

Her face turned red, her hands clenching into fists as she marched past the ministers, heading outside.

* * *

Cloud walked between the ranks of soldiers, performing a routine inspection before sending them off on the day's training exercise. Not long after Avalanche's return to the country, one of the officers from Wutai's ministry of defense had approached him, asking him if he were willing to provide some training and tactical lessons to their armed forces. He did not wish to spend his time in Wutai idly, so he accepted the offer. As a result, he had spent the greater part of the week drilling with a contingent of their soldiers, imparting what advice and lessons he could offer with reasonable confidence. His lessons had been well attended, and even some of the senior officers had come by to watch the proceedings.

Though the council ministers weren't thrilled with the idea of their armed forces taking advice from someone who had once numbered among the ranks of their old enemy, the military men were another matter. "We've been bested by Shinra in the past," they remarked. "Who better to learn from than one of their own?"

The ministers might be hard-headed, cantankerous old fossils, Cloud thought, but he found that the people of Wutai were far more accepting, especially once he made it clear to them that he had long since severed all ties with Shinra.

He and Yuffie were living together in their own place, separate from her father's mansion. Their accommodations, though comfortable, were intended as temporary while they settled down on a more permanent residence. The rest of the group was staying in a lavish hotel not far from their home. Yuffie had insisted on reserving the entire top floor for them for the duration of their stay. They still had a couple of weeks of vacation time left before returning to Midgar to resume their own lives, and they planned to make the most of their remaining time off.

"I see you've found your place in life," Tifa said, walking up to Cloud as he oversaw the training grounds.

"Maybe," Cloud replied.

She stood next to him, observing the soldiers as they continued their drills, doing push-ups, bayoneting straw dummies, practicing materia-based attacks, and so on. All in all, it was quite the display.

"Getting ready for an invasion?" Tifa asked.

"No. Just getting ready, I suppose," Cloud said. "You know how that saying goes," he added. "'If you want peace, prepare for war'."

Tifa nodded, but said nothing. Perhaps it hadn't been the right thing to say. He knew Tifa wasn't much for warmongering, and in truth, neither was he. He hoped it might be possible to direct Wutai's growing military towards crisis containment rather than military conquests, a task for which this kind of training and discipline would be equally useful. That much he knew from experience. But right now, their government and their military seemed to be torn between co-operation with the outside world, and hostility and isolationism. There was deep-rooted resentment from past conflicts, as well as hope for the future, and it was up to him and Yuffie to try to quell the former in favour of the latter.

"To be honest, I'd prefer it if we were doing more to build for peace," Cloud said. "But I don't really know how to do anything else."

"I'm sure you'll figure things out," Tifa said.

"So, what brings you around?" Cloud asked.

"Just came by to see how you're doing," Tifa said.

They walked over to one of the wooden houses nearby, sitting down on its porch. Autumn was coming, and the ground was littered with red and yellow leaves, carried throughout the streets on the warm wind. They sat in silence for a moment, watching the sun coming up from behind the tall mountains that encompassed the city, painting their surroundings in a brilliant red hue. It was a breathtaking sight, the sign of a changing of the seasons, and with it, they sensed, a change in their lives.

"Are you happy here?" Tifa asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah... I think so," Cloud replied.

She studied his face for a moment. She had known him long enough to know when he was telling the truth, and when he was trying to conceal it. Happiness was elusive even at the best of times, she knew, but he seemed content, far less agitated than he had been for the past two years. For once in his life, he seemed to be at peace.

"I'm glad," Tifa said, reaching out to give his hand a light squeeze. She smiled at him, then let go again. There was another brief moment of silence between them.

"You think you might settle down here?" Tifa asked.

"Nothing's decided yet," Cloud said. "We'll see."

"I think it might do you some good," Tifa said. "But listen... if you change your mind, I just want you to know that you'll always have a home in Midgar. Both of you."

Though she knew she would miss him, she did not want to draw him away from his new life with Yuffie. She could see the positive effects that they were having on one another. Her young friend continued to draw Cloud out of his shell, and he, in turn, was helping Yuffie to channel her boundless energy into more positive efforts than petty theft and misdemeanours. It wasn't a conscious effort on the part of either of them, but simply the effect that they had on one another when in each other's presence.

"Thanks, Teef," Cloud said, looking over at his childhood friend. There was sadness in her eyes, but joy as well. They both knew that separation awaited them, as they fulfilled their new roles. It was not a goodbye forever, but a parting of ways, nonetheless.

They had both learned that things didn't always turn out the way you expected. But they were taking a turn for the better, at least. They had both been looking for their place in life. He had finally found his, or so it felt. As for Tifa, she still seemed to be searching. She had been a true friend from the start, probably a better one than he deserved, Cloud thought. He knew he could always count on her for support, and he swore to himself that, whatever the future held for them, he would stand by her in the same manner.

"What about you?" Cloud asked. "What will you do?"

"I don't know yet," Tifa said. She drew one knee up underneath her chin. "It's funny. In a way, things were easier back when we were being hounded by Shinra. We didn't have so much choice to deal with. Didn't have to think about life. We just did what we had to."

"True.." Cloud said.

He paused, waiting for a moment, before speaking again. "What about Vincent?" he asked. The former Turk's budding relationship with his childhood friend had not escaped his notice. He hoped that it would turn out well. They both deserved happiness, and perhaps they would find it in each other.

"Vincent's nice," Tifa said. "But I don't know what'll happen yet. We'll see."

Another brief silence ensued. As they watched the sunrise, the look on Tifa's face grew wistful.

"What's on your mind?" Cloud asked, noting her dismay.

"There are a lot of orphans in Midgar," Tifa said. "Someone needs to do something about that."

She looked down on the ground. Cloud could guess as to what she was thinking. They were both orphans, themselves, though they had been old enough to take care of themselves by the time they lost their parents. The countless children left without families in the wake of the Meteor crisis were not so lucky.

"And someone needs to make sure we build bridges," she added. "Build for peace."

She turned to him again, smiling. "Right?"

Cloud nodded, smiling back.

"Right."

* * *

Yuffie sat on the floor, in the traditional Wutaian manner, leaning over the low table. It was only her first week as Wutai's new temporary head of state, and already her desk was swamped with policy amendments, special requests and petitions, the papers stacked so high that it was impossible to see anything beyond them.

_"Is this what dad does all day?" _she thought._ "No wonder he's got such a giant stick __up his ass.."_

"Rulership involves responsibility, Yuffie. It's not all sitting on a throne and having a bunch of sycophants and yes-men bow to you all day," Godo had once warned her. She hadn't been listening, of course.

Cloud was there with her, having promised to do his best to try to keep her sane throughout the ordeal. Not that he knew much about politics, either, but he had pledged his moral support, and failing that, to provide her with the occasional distraction.

"...Help," Yuffie said, eyeing the mountainous stacks of paper sprawled out before her.

"Tell you what..." Cloud said. "Why don't we go climb the Da Chao again once you're done here?"

"Once I'm done here, I'll be lucky to have the energy to crawl into my own grave," Yuffie replied.

"I'll carry you," Cloud said.

This elicited a smile from the young ninja. "Deal," she said.

"By the way... Don't heads of state get long vacations?" Cloud asked.

Yuffie shrugged. "Not that I know of. We don't have any laws about it, anyway. The people from my dad's generation are kinda workaholics, if you hadn't noticed."

"Supposing you made one up?" Cloud suggested.

"I'd love to," Yuffie said, "but that gasbag Toshiro's just going to block it like all my other suggestions."

"Why'd your father put you in charge if you aren't actually allowed to do anything?" Cloud asked.

"Hell if I know," Yuffie said. "Maybe he thinks I can keep the ministers in check long enough for him to get back on his feet."

She sighed, picking up her pen, glancing over one of the many papers laid out before her. "But I'm really not cut out for this.."

"Maybe you are," Cloud said. "You just don't know it yet. But whatever happens, I'll stand by you. I promise."

"Thanks," Yuffie said, smiling. She turned her attention back to the paperwork as Cloud left. It was hard to fight the temptation to simply throw the stacks of paper on the floor and run away. But fight it she did. She wasn't a child anymore, and it was time for her to prove it to the world.

* * *

Later, as promised, Cloud was carrying her up the mountain path, the last of the day's sunlight hitting them in the eye as they climbed up to the top of the Da Chao. Yuffie lay motionless in his arms, head tilted back, arms splayed. All in all, she was doing her best impression of a fresh cadaver.

"Come on, Yuffie," Cloud said. "I know you're not dead."

She groaned, raising her head, wrapping her arms around his neck. "A couple more days like this, I will be," she replied.

"You'll be all right," Cloud said. "It's not like you have to keep doing this forever."

"...Let's not tempt fate," Yuffie said.

"We can take some time off in Midgar again, if you want," Cloud suggested. "You know, once you're done here."

"Yeah... that'd be nice," Yuffie said. "Hey, by the way, if I croak, do you promise not to feed my body to the cats in that weird old house by the road? 'cause that'd be really gross, and there'd be cat hair and blood all over the place, and.."

"Don't be melodramatic, Yuffie," Cloud said, stifling a laugh. "You'll be fine, really."

"Why are we stopping?" Yuffie asked.

"We're here," Cloud said.

Yuffie looked up. They were at the head of the statue. All that was left was the climb up its back.

"That was fast," Yuffie said.

"Speak for yourself," Cloud said, setting her back down on her feet.

They proceeded to climb up the statue's head, then sat down together at its edge, looking over the city below. They watched the sun as it slipped beneath the horizon, the last rays of sunlight painting the skies a deep crimson.

"All kidding aside.." Yuffie said. "What am I going to do?"

"Well, we could run away again, if you want," Cloud said.

Yuffie shook her head. "No, we already did that once. I don't feel like running away anymore."

She swung her legs back and forth over the edge of the statue's face, sighing. "Sooner or later, I'm going to have to deal with Toshiro and all those other clowns. The people here are going to chafe under them if someone doesn't step in."

She chuckled, then shook her head, looking down to the ground. "Figures... No matter how much I try to break free, I'm stuck here. Rooted to the ground."

Cloud knew what she meant. Yuffie had always torn between the love and loyalty that she felt for her country, and her desire to fly free. Try as she might to get away from the place, Wutai always seemed to call her back in the end.

"You're lucky, though," Cloud said. "To have roots, I mean."

Yuffie looked over at him, wondering what he meant by that.

"Tifa and I... we're not like that. Everything we knew got burned away," Cloud said. "Sometimes, it feels like the past is gone. Almost like it never happened."

_"Like it never happened.."_

Yuffie looked out at the horizon. There was an idea percolating inside her head. She realized that she needed to go somewhere. But the politics had her tied down for another three weeks, at least.

Unless..

She sprang up to her feet as another idea occurred to her.

"Going back already?" Cloud asked.

"There's something I need to do," Yuffie said. "Meet me at home later?"

"Okay," Cloud said.

They leaned in closer for a parting kiss, before she left. Cloud watched her as she walked back down the mountain path, then turned his attention to the darkening horizon once more. He stayed for a moment longer, watching the sun vanish beneath the mountains, then got up as well, heading back into town.

* * *

It was dark outside by the time the other Avalanchers returned to the hotel. They had spent the day taking in the sights, and were now relaxing in their own rooms. Tifa exited the bathroom of her spacious suite, clad in a white bathrobe, drying her hair with a fresh towel. As she walked past her bedroom, there was a knock at the door. She opened the door to find Yuffie standing outside, looking cold and rain-soaked.

"Hey," Yuffie said.

"Hey," Tifa said, gesturing for her friend to come in. "What's up?"

"Listen... I need to ask you a favour," Yuffie said, walking inside the room.

"What is it?" Tifa asked.

"I need you to take me somewhere... without telling anyone," Yuffie said.

"Even Cloud?" Tifa asked.

"Especially Cloud," Yuffie replied.

"Where are we going?" Tifa asked.

"I'll tell you once we're out of the country," Yuffie said. "I just need to take care of one thing first. Can you meet me outside the city tomorrow?"

"Sure," Tifa said. "I'll give Cid a call."

"Thanks," Yuffie said, turning to leave again.

"Where are you going?" Tifa asked.

"The library," Yuffie said.

* * *

Vincent closed the heavy tome, putting it back in its place on the bookshelf. He had been perusing the local library's offerings, looking for reading material. Unfortunately, most of the texts were written in ancient Wutaian ideograms, something which might as well have been an alien language as far as he was concerned.

As he wandered through the aisles, he almost did a double take as he walked past one of the reading rooms. There was a pile of books on the floor, forming a circle of sorts, with Yuffie sitting in the middle of it, flipping through their pages, one by one, making notes on a piece of paper as she did.

_"Yuffie Kisaragi with her nose in the books,"_ Vincent thought. _"Now I've seen __everything."_

Unable to contain his curiosity, he walked over to her. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Searching," Yuffie replied.

"For what?" Vincent asked.

"A loophole," Yuffie said.

Her reply was unusually cryptic, but then again, Yuffie hadn't quite been herself for the past few days. The energetic young ninja was finally confronting things that she had been doing her best to ignore for years, and that would involve doing things she wasn't used to at all.

He noticed that all of the books seemed to center around Wutai laws and politics. Though Vincent did not know for sure, he thought he could guess as to her motives. He knew that the rest of the council was giving her a hard time. Perhaps she was trying to find some way to get back at them.

"I must admit, I don't know much about the politics here," he said, "but back where I'm from, there are often special clauses regarding new heads of state. Perhaps there's something there you can use."

"Hmmm... could be.." Yuffie said, without taking her eyes off the page. She closed the book in front of her, then picked up another one, taking more notes.

"You're planning to make trouble, I take it?" Vincent asked, crossing his arms, leaning against the bookshelf.

"You could say that," Yuffie replied.

Cryptic, indeed. Still, he thought, there were times when one had to play one's cards close to one's chest..

* * *

The next morning, the council was in session once more. Yuffie sat at the foot of the table, waiting for the ministers to arrive. One by one, they took their seats, including Toshiro who was looking quite pleased with himself, satisfied that he had put her in her place the day before. Yuffie fought the urge to roll her eyes. The man's smugness was enough to peel the paint off the walls around him.

His elation was short-lived. He and the other ministers picked up the piece of paper in front of them, detailing the first administrative business of the day. It was only a few sentences long, which was quite unusual. Toshiro cleared his throat, furrowing his brow as he read the short missive.

"I, Yuffie Kisaragi, hereby declare the council disbanded, to be replaced by a new, democratically elected one. This order invokes the right of royal edict, as per the conventions of Wutai rulership law, article 67, sub-section 31..."

Toshiro trailed off, looking up at her. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Having trouble reading?" Yuffie asked.

"Surely this is a joke," another one of the ministers said.

Yuffie shrugged. "Do you see anyone laughing?"

"Well, naturally, my colleagues and I will strike down this motion down as absurd," Toshiro said, fanning himself as he spoke. "I invoke our right to veto the motion," he added.

"You can't," Chekov said.

"What?"

"I said you can't do that," Chekov repeated.

"Why not?" Toshiro demanded, indignant.

"As the document states, this order falls under the conventions of royal edicts," Chekov explained. "You've already cast your votes and vetoes for all such motions in the year. Normally, there would be no more motions of this kind until next year. But as Lady Kisaragi is taking the place of her father, she is allowed to make one such edict, on the condition that she recuse herself from any further political involvement for the remainder of the year."

Yuffie smiled. Toshiro's face turned red as he realized that she had just outfoxed him. Him and all the other ministers. "You.." he seethed. "You can't do this."

"I just did," Yuffie replied. She leaned forward, tenting her fingers, feeling rather smug, though she tried her best not to show it. In addition to being her first political decision, it would also be the last that she would ever make within the council. That was something she could live with.

"If anyone else has any objections, speak up now, please," she said. By the looks on the other ministers' faces, most of them did. But they also realized that any objections they made would be utterly futile.

"Elections will be held in two weeks," Yuffie said, rising from her seat. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere else to be."

She walked past the throng of fuming ministers, rendered impotent by her sly machinations. "Gentlemen," she said, giving the rest of the council a quick nod as she stepped outside.

* * *

"You did WHAT?"

Godo Kisaragi paced about his living room, looking as though he might work himself up into a second heart attack. Despite his ill health, he was up and about the minute he had heard of what had transpired during the day's council meeting. He had obviously heard her, but the point needed repeating.

"I made Wutai a democracy," Yuffie replied.

Godo sat down at his desk, burying his head in his hands. "Yuffie... do you have any idea what you've done? You just broke centuries, no, _millennia_ of tradition on a whim. A _whim_."

Yuffie shrugged. "You shouldn't have left me in charge of the country, then."

Godo shook his head, but said nothing else. Standing up, he leaned against the window at the far end of the room. Usually when her father was angry with her, he shouted. When it was serious, though, he became quiet, almost unable to speak. This was one of those times.

She was ready to leave, and she was already late for her rendezvous with Cid and Tifa, thanks to her father's interruption. But there was a point that she wanted to make before she left. It wasn't just her usual delinquency or disdain for authority and tradition that had prompted her to do what she had done.

"Dad..." she said, speaking in softer tones than she usually did when her father was concerned. "I know you might not see it right now, but... sooner or later, you're going to have to trust the people of Wutai to take care of themselves."

"Get out," Godo said, without turning to look at her.

"Glad to," Yuffie said as she left, passing Chekov by as he came into the room bearing refreshments.

The old retainer laid the tray on Godo's desk, pouring a cup of tea. "You're angry, sir?" he asked, noting his master's agitated state.

"Furious," Godo replied, not moving from the window.

"With your daughter, I take it?"

Godo let out a long sigh. "No," he said. "With myself."

"Why is that, sir?"

"Because she's right, Chekov," Godo said, turning to face the old retainer. "Damn it, she's always been right. Maybe I'm just too stubborn to see it."

"Stubbornness does run in the family, sir," Chekov replied, handing him his tea.

"Indeed," Godo said, taking the cup.

"You could always strike the motion down yourself, sir," Chekov suggested.

Godo nodded, but said nothing. He walked back over to the window, taking a sip of his tea. The look on his face softened as he gazed out the window, looking out over the country of which he had been master and servant for so long.

"Something else on your mind, sir?" Chekov asked.

"Chekov... I'm thinking about retirement," Godo said.

"Surely your lordship is not serious?" Chekov said.

"It might just be time for it," Godo said. "At least now I've an excuse."

"Forgive my impertinence," Chekov said, "but you wouldn't know what to do with yourself, sir."

"You're right," Godo said. "I'll have to find something else to occupy my time with."

He crossed over to the other side of the room, inspecting one of the ceremonial armours that lined the wall.

"A new hobby. Golf, perhaps."

"Golf, sir?" Chekov asked. "That's hardly the tradition for retiring rulers."

The sport that Godo had in mind was not exactly a national pastime, Chekov thought. As far as he knew, the country had never even had a golf course.

"Well, perhaps it's time we instituted a new tradition," Godo said. "What do you say?"

Chekov smiled, then nodded. "I'll meet you on the green, sir."

* * *

The news that Wutai was to become a democracy had sent ripples throughout the whole of the city. Yuffie had barely stepped out of her father's mansion, and already people were taking to the streets, putting up campaign posters, knocking on doors, handing out leaflets and coming up with clever-sounding slogans.

As she walked through the streets, she passed by Toshiro and his entourage as they scrambled to put up posters and announce their bid for the council. She couldn't help but smile. Even the old ministers, who up till now had held their positions within the council by birthright, now had to justify their place in it to the people they pretended to serve. All the hullabaloo surrounding the elections would keep the people of Wutai busy for a while. They wouldn't miss her for a few days.

Making her way past the waves of people, she walked out to the edge of the city, where Cid and Tifa were waiting for her.

"So, where is it we're going, exactly?" Cid asked.

"East," Yuffie said. Without further explanation, she boarded the Highwind.

"Care to be more specific than that?" Cid asked, turning to Tifa, who shrugged her shoulders.

The captain grumbled as he followed the two girls inside the airship. "It's always 'Cid, drive me over here, Cid drive me over there.' Do I look like I'm running a goddamn taxi service?"

"Cid..." Tifa said. "We wouldn't ask unless it were important."

"Fine," Cid said. "Ain't like I've got nothing better to do than chauffeur you people around. Let's go, already."

* * *

"So, you guys used to live here, huh?" Yuffie asked, looking around the small town. Their footsteps echoed throughout the streets as they walked down the cobblestone path leading to Nibelheim's square.

"Yeah," Tifa said. "Until we were in our teens. Cloud left when he was about fourteen. I stayed a little longer."

"What about your families?" Yuffie asked.

"We don't really have any," Tifa said. "Cloud's mom died in the fire. My dad, too. Killed by Sephiroth."

"I'm sorry," Yuffie said.

"It's okay," Tifa said. "It's in the past now."

"Why didn't you guys move back?" Yuffie asked.

"I don't know," Tifa said. "I thought about doing so for a while. Cloud said he didn't want to. At first, I thought he was just being stubborn. But he's right. This isn't really home anymore. Just a replica."

Tifa looked the town over. It had been a long while since she had seen it. The place hadn't changed much, except that the people Shinra had used to repopulate it were long gone. Nibelheim was not only a ghost town in the sense of being abandoned by its inhabitants. The town itself was a ghost, and the hollow shell intended to mimic it nothing more than a giant tombstone.

"So, why did you want to come here, anyway?" Tifa asked. "There's nothing left of the real Nibelheim, except for that manor. Everything else burned in the fire."

"Maybe not everything," Yuffie said.

"What do you mean?" Tifa asked.

"You know how we can't build basements in Wutai, 'cause we have too many earthquakes?" Yuffie asked.

Tifa nodded.

"It got me thinking, maybe something survived down here," Yuffie said. "You know, in the foundations."

"Hmmm..." Tifa said. "I never thought of that."

The thought of returning to this place had been far from her mind for the past few years. And the idea of digging through its foundations in search of lost relics seemed somehow morbid to her. But perhaps her friend was on to something..

"So... why come alone?" Tifa asked.

"It's meant to be a surprise," Yuffie said. "Cloud's birthday is coming up soon, right?"

"In a few weeks, yeah," Tifa said. "You're expecting to find something here?"

Yuffie nodded.

"What are you looking for, exactly?" Tifa asked.

"I'll know when I find it," Yuffie said.

* * *

Tifa looked around as she stepped inside the replica of her old home. "It's hard to believe this isn't the house I grew up in," she said, running her hand across the bannister next to the staircase. Its smooth, lacquered surface seemed familiar to the touch, though she knew it couldn't be the same one from her past. "It's eerie how much it looks like the real place."

"Yeah... It's kinda creepy when you think about it," Yuffie said. "I mean, they would have had to be watching this place the whole time... right?"

Tifa looked over at her friend. She was right. The thought of it made her shudder, to know that she might well have been under constant surveillance all her life, without the slightest notion of it. One more reason she was glad to be rid of Shinra once and for all.

They visited the old Shinra mansion next, at Yuffie's insistence. Tifa recalled their last visit to this place, when they had released Vincent from his self-imposed exile from the world. They retraced their steps through the gloomy entrance hall, then the upper rooms, down the circular staircase hidden inside the silo, then finally passing through the basement, entering the library at the far end of the underground tunnel.

To one side of the library, there was a small alcove, the entrance to Hojo's old laboratory.

"This is the place?" Yuffie asked.

Tifa nodded. "This is it."

"Gross.." Yuffie said, looking over the place. The scant lighting revealed crooked, lime-green walls, crumbling and decaying from years of disrepair. The floor was stained with what looked like clots of blood, as was the operating table in the centre of the room. There were trays strewn with rusty medical instruments, and the shelves were lined with organic specimens in jars filled with preservative chemicals, most of their contents unrecognizable from having been kept there for so long. The whole, grim tableaux was barely visible in the near-darkness of the room, and everything inside of it was covered in layers of dust and grime.

"Hojo kept Cloud and Zack trapped here for five years," Tifa said "I never knew..."

"What happened?" Yuffie asked.

"The reports said that everyone was killed in the fire, but I knew they were lying," Tifa said. "My old mentor and I made it out alive. I wasn't sure if there were any other survivors, but I was still pretty out of it, and we were headed as far away from this place as possible."

"That's when you came to Midgar?" Yuffie asked.

Tifa nodded. "It wasn't long after that that I first met Barret and his gang. I already resented Shinra for everything they had done, so I joined up. That was the beginning of Avalanche."

The two of them walked through the lab, searching the room for any items of interest. Yuffie halted as something crackled underneath her foot. She picked up the piece of broken glass, examining it. There were more like it, surrounding the mako chambers at the far end of the room. She stared inside the steel capsule for a moment, thinking about what it must have been used for.

"Gods..." Yuffie whispered. "Five years.."

It was only then that it struck her. Cloud had spent five whole years of his life, trapped in this place. She had heard the stories during the group's numerous fireside conversations, but actually seeing the place drove home just what he had been through, just how much he had been made to suffer throughout his life.

"Are you all right?" Tifa asked.

"Y...yeah..." Yuffie replied, leaning against the cold metal chamber.

She wasn't, though. Her stomach turned as she thought about it. Five years, cut off from the outside world, being tortured and experimented on by that psychopath. It was sickening to contemplate.

"We shouldn't stay here," Tifa said, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder, drawing her away from the lab. "This is a place best forgotten."

Yuffie nodded, letting her friend lead her back outside. She was right. There was nothing to be found here, and whatever ghosts of the past remained in this place were better left to their rest. But there was one last stop they had to make before leaving.

* * *

The old Strife family residence was a humble house, but a comfortable one. At least, that's what it looked like. As with the other buildings, it was hard to tell just how much of the original edifice remained.

The two of them moved one of the beds out of the way, rolling up the carpet underneath to reveal a heavy trapdoor. They climbed the stairs down into the basement below. Whoever had rebuilt the town hadn't bothered to empty out its contents. Traces of ash and embers were still embedded in the joists, demarcating the point where the new, fake Nibelheim had been built, and what remained of the old town underneath its replacement.

There was a small chest in the corner of the cellar, hidden underneath a mound of dusty old blankets. It was locked, but Yuffie made quick work of the simple mechanism. Digging through the chest's contents, she discovered what looked like a photo album. She blew the dust from the old album, leafing through its pages. There wasn't much left inside of it. It had scarcely been used at all. But there was one item of interest, which she removed from the book, holding it up for her friend to see.

"What do you think?" Yuffie asked. "You think he'll like it?"

Tifa smiled. "Yeah... I think he will."

* * *

As they walked back out of town, Yuffie noticed that Tifa was giving her an odd look. Not the usual look of disapproval that she got from her teammates whenever she was up to something, but rather the opposite. She seemed pleased with her. Proud, even.

"What?" Yuffie asked.

"Nothing," Tifa said. She couldn't keep from smiling, though, which made her friend even more suspicious of her.

For all of Yuffie's wanton mischief, Tifa thought, she had a good heart. She knew right from wrong, too, though she didn't always let this stop her from doing things that were just south of legal. But in the end, she knew what was the right thing to do, and she had the courage to go through with it.

"We should get back," Tifa said. "I'm sure Cid's waiting for us."

"If he hasn't already left, that is," Yuffie said.

* * *

It was late in the evening when she got back home. She found Cloud in the living room, sitting on the couch, watching the news. He hadn't heard her enter the house, and he had his back turned to her, so she decided to sneak up on him.

"Guess who?" she said, clapping her hands in front of his eyes.

"Hey... where have you been?" he asked, prying her hands from his face.

"Around," Yuffie said, walking over to the other side of the couch. "I got you something," she added, digging up a present from her backpack, holding it up for him to see.

The package was wrapped in plain, brown paper and tied with knotted string. Cloud gave her a suspicious look, wondering what she had been up to. Even though Yuffie generally refrained from casual theft these days, he knew it was still hard for her to fight the urge to get up to that kind of mischief. And she _had_ been missing for a couple of days now..

Yuffie noticed the odd look that Cloud was giving her. "Don't worry, it's not stolen," she reassured him.

"What is it?" Cloud asked.

"You'll have to open it to find out," Yuffie said. "Here. Happy birthday," she added, handing him the present.

"It's not my birthday," Cloud said, confused.

"I know," Yuffie said, "but... look, I'm terrible with dates, okay? I know I'm totally going to forget, so I thought I'd get you one early. Besides, it'll be your birthday sooner or later, right?"

Cloud thought it was rather specious logic, but there was no reason for him to turn down her gift. And she had piqued his curiosity by now.

"Go on," Yuffie said. "Open it."

Cloud untied the string and tore away the paper. Inside, there was a picture frame, encasing an old, yellowed photograph. It was a photo of the Strife family, taken many years ago. There were three people in the photo: A father, a mother and a young boy, standing between them. The father's face was partly rubbed out, time having eroded the upper edges of the photo. But he could see himself and his mother clearly in the portrait. She was still a young woman in the photograph, vibrant and beautiful, just as he remembered her.

He turned the picture over. There was a message written on the back:

_"We all come from somewhere."_

_-Y.K._

Despite his natural reluctance for showing emotion, he got choked up as he looked at the photograph. All this time, it had seemed as though his past had vanished into nothingness, and he had been left wandering aimlessly around the world, a man without a country. She had taken the time to sift through the debris in order to bring him a memento of his past, reminding him that it was there, after all.

"Do you like it?" Yuffie asked.

"...It's perfect," Cloud said, looking up at her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she replied, beaming.

"Where did you find this?" he asked.

"Somewhere in the past," Yuffie said.

She sat down next to him. "Listen... I know we make a big deal out of where we're coming from," she said, taking his hand. "But... I'm more interested in where we're going."

She looked at the photograph in his hands. "Still, I thought you should have this," she added.

Cloud smiled at her, placing the photograph on the table in front of them. "Hey, you're not getting thoughtful on me, are you?" he asked.

Yuffie chuckled. "You wish."

She leaned in a little closer, and he did the same. "Well... maybe once a year," she said, in between kisses.

Yuffie rested her head on Cloud's shoulder, and they sat together in silence for a moment. As they relaxed in each other's arms, that old, mischievous smile he knew so well emerged on her features again.

"Come on," Yuffie said, taking his hand, pulling him up off the couch. "Let's go upstairs."

"What's upstairs?" Cloud asked.

"Another birthday present," Yuffie said, with a sly wink, as she led him up the steps. "If you're interested."

He was. Indeed, he was.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

I know, I know... smoke-filled room crammed with Important-Looking Men in Suits talking about how to best rule the world. We've never seen _that_ scene before, have we? Still, I'm fairly pleased with how this chapter turned out, overall. But I'll let you be the ultimate judges of its quality.

Anyway, I thought that, since there's only one more chapter to go, this might be a good time to play six degrees of minor character names. I decided to name 'Toshiro', our obstructive bureaucrat, after the famed actor Toshiro Mifune. He would sometimes play heroes and sometimes villains, but he would invariably play these gruff, gravelly-voiced, weather-worn and somewhat old-fashioned hard cases, so it seemed appropriate. As for Dio's assistants... 'Stub' was a name that I borrowed from Moby Dick, though I spelled it with one fewer 'b's. Then I realized that I needed a second underling who worked for Dio. The name 'Dio' reminds me of Ronny James Dio, who used to be in Black Sabbath. Black Sabbath have a song called N.I.B. (Nativity In Black). Hence, 'Nib'. That'll give you some idea of how my mind works.

Well, that leaves one last chapter to tie things up. 'till next time, then.


	7. The Question

**Waiting  
****Chapter 7**

**The Question**

* * *

"I swear, this game makes watching paint dry look exciting," Yuffie said.

She followed her father down through the open fields, searching for the spot where his ball had landed. Now that he no longer had a throne or a council to worry about, Godo Kisaragi had made good on his threat, taking up the blighted game, even going so far as to clear out some land outside of the city to set up Wutai's first golf course. He had insisted on dragging Yuffie along with him, to give her a tour of the place. The course was quite picturesque, she thought. The game itself, however, was doing very little for her.

Her father was another matter. Ever since his first outing, he had been so preoccupied with his new hobby that he could scarcely pay attention to her. This, she decided, was not entirely a bad thing. Still, she worried that he might be getting absent-minded in his old age.

"You just don't have an appreciation of it, my dear," Godo replied, lining up his next shot. "It takes time to get into the swing of things."

Her father paused, holding up his club, inspecting it. He chuckled at his own remark. "Heh... 'the swing of things'.." he said to himself.

Yuffie groaned. "Dad, what did I tell you about making puns?"

He took another swing, and they headed further down the course in pursuit of his golf ball. Yuffie sighed as they wandered about the fairway. _"Oh well,"_ she thought, _"at least his blood pressure's back to normal."_

As they reached the middle of the course, they were momentarily blanketed by a long shadow as the Highwind passed by overhead.

"Oh, it looks like your friends are here," Godo said, looking up. "Well, have fun."

"Bye, dad," Yuffie said. "Don't break a leg or anything, okay?"

So saying, she wandered off. Godo didn't look up, too absorbed in his game. Taking aim, he swung again. The ball flew high up into the air, before dropping into the lake next to the putting green.

"Drat," he said.

* * *

Yuffie approached the airship as it touched down outside the city. The loud noise of the ship's engines drowned out the sound of her approach, and the downdraft blew her hair back, sending the long trails of her headband waving in the artificial gust.

The rest of Avalanche had been off monster hunting, on the tip that some new outbreak had occurred on the northern continent. She had wanted to come with them, but there had been certain formalities for her to take care of regarding the election before she could leave the country.

As she walked up the Highwind, the rest of the team came down the loading ramp to meet her. "Hey," Cloud greeted her, pulling her into a tight hug.

"Hey," Yuffie said, returning the hug. "It's been too long."

"Come on. You kids have only been apart for a few days," Cid said.

"Like I said, too long," Yuffie replied.

The captain chuckled, then shook his head. "Right.."

"So, how was it?" Yuffie asked. "You guys find anything?"

"It was a false alarm," Cloud said, shrugging. "Turns out someone bumped into old dinosaur bones in the night, thought it was a monster. Caused a giant panic over nothing. How about you?"

"Just formalities," Yuffie said. "Pretty boring stuff, really. Kinda wish I could have come with you guys."

"Yeah, well... don't sweat it," Cid said. "You didn't miss much."

"Ain't that many monsters left roaming around," Barret said. "Not like the early days, when the whole world was crawlin' with'em."

"Indeed. I must say, I almost miss those days," Nanaki said. "Almost."

"So, where are we headed now?" Yuffie asked.

"We thought we might cruise around the archipelago for a bit, maybe stop by in Midgar," Tifa said. "Sound good?"

"Sure," Yuffie said.

"When do you have to be back in Wutai?" Reeve asked.

"Not for a while, thankfully," Yuffie said.

"They announce the election results yet?" Cid asked.

"They're tallying up the votes right now," Yuffie said. "Don't worry. My father and I aren't going to win. Not with all these other candidates. So, I'm free, unless there's an emergency."

"You ready to go?" Cloud asked. "Seem to be travelling pretty light.."

"Yeah, no worries," Yuffie said. "Just let me just get my things squared away. I'll meet you guys on the bridge."

Cloud watched as she walked over to the crew quarters.

"You didn't tell her where we really went," Cid said, walking up next to him.

"Not yet," Cloud replied.

* * *

_The Northern Crater._

_They had reached the end of their long climb, arriving at the very apex of the jagged mountain range, the remnant of the meteor that had scarred the face of the planet millennia ago. Within the crater's curve, they found landscapes such as they had never seen before. Whole caverns made of raw, unrefined materia, glowing faintly with untapped energy. A particularly large and bright piece hung down from the ceiling, dominating the center of the cave._

_Cloud glanced over at the young girl standing next to him. She looked enraptured, utterly amazed at the sight before them._

_"Whoa..." she said. "Hey, we're taking some of this stuff with us, right?" she said, looking over at the others._

_Before anyone could answer, she already had a small cutting tool out, and was busy hacking away at the top of one of the materia stalagmites._

_"Come on, quit messin' around," Cid said. "This ain't the time to be gathering souvenirs."_

_Yuffie paid no attention to him, and it looked like they would have to pry her away from this place._

_"I don't know why you insist on dragging the kid along with us," Cid said to Cloud. "Especially after she ran off with our stuff. Who knows what stupid stunt she's going to pull off next?"_

_"What's that supposed to mean?" Yuffie said, turning away from her work, marching up to Cid. The others could sense an argument brewing._

_"It means you never learn, you little brat," Cid said. "One of these days, all this shit is gonna come back to bite you in the ass, you know. Once a brat, always a brat."_

_"I'm not a little kid!" Yuffie protested, placing her hands on her hips. "I'll be seventeen in a month, I'll have you know."_

_"Yeah?" Cid replied. "You sure don't act like it."_

_"Shut your face!"_

_"I'll shut yours in a minute if you don't-"_

_"All right, calm down," Cloud said, taking the role of the mediator, as he often did where Yuffie and the rest of the group were concerned. "Let's remember why we're here."_

_"Why _are_ we here?" Vincent asked. The question seemed to be intended as rhetorical, rather than one raised out of curiosity. "It appears to me that we're trifling with forces beyond our control," he added, observing their otherworldly surroundings._

_"Don't count us out just yet," Tifa said. "We have to press on. We owe that much to someone."_

_"Yeah... I guess we do," Barret said._

_With that, the argument died down. The Avalanchers kept going, pressing further into the tunnel, towards the heart of the scar left by the meteor ages ago. Yuffie lingered for a moment, before joining the others, casting one last glance at the treasure trove they were leaving behind._

_"Why the obsession with materia, anyway?" Cloud asked._

_"It's not an obsession. I just... like it, that's all," Yuffie said. "A lot," she added._

_The look that the others gave her told her that they were less than convinced._

_"Okay. More than a lot," Yuffie said. "But come on, is it really that strange?"_

_"It confers power to its wielder," Nanaki said. "I suppose I can understand that much."_

_"Is that all it is, a means to an end?" Vincent asked. "Is that what you're after? Power?"_

_"No..." Yuffie said, halting, looking down on the ground. "Something more important than that."_

_"What?" Cloud asked, out of earnest curiosity. For once, the young ninja seemed to be speaking with sincerity._

_"Freedom," she replied, looking up at him._

* * *

An incessant buzzing noise broke sleep's hold on his mind. Cloud groaned, reaching over to the nightstand, fumbling for the button to silence the alarm clock. After a few misses, he finally managed to hit the 'snooze' button, cutting off the infernal noise.

_"Is it morning already?"_ he thought, rubbing his aching forehead. He picked up the clock. Reading its display, he realized that they had slept in until noon.

He looked over at Yuffie, who was sleeping next to him. "Just five more minutes.." she muttered.

"Come on, sleepyhead," Cloud said, gently nudging her shoulder. "It's time to get up."

"I don't wanna go to school today," Yuffie muttered, turning on her side. She grabbed a pillow, pressing it over her head, trying to find her way back to sleep. But consciousness was already creeping back into her head. After a minute or so, she gave up. She sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Oh... right," she muttered, remembering where she was.

Cloud was already up and getting dressed by the time she was out of bed. "Hey, where are we?" she asked, peeking out the window. She didn't recognize the landscape. There were palm trees, a beach and a large wooden cabin overlooking the hill next to them.

"Like I said," Cloud replied. "The monster hunt was a bust. We had some time to kill, so we put this place together in the meantime."

"You built this place in one week?" Yuffie asked, amazed.

"Well, it's not quite finished," Cloud said. "And I had a lot of help, especially from Reeve and Barret. We've had the idea for a while, actually," he explained, walking over to her. "We wanted to make something. A place for us. Avalanche. Some place we could go whenever we need to get away from everything. So... we built this cabin."

Yuffie nodded. It made sense. Even with their two bases of operation in Wutai and the Seventh Heaven bar, there wasn't much getting away from the world, seeing as how they were both located in the middle of bustling cities. Hardly a place to relax and get away from it all. But this place was different. A real getaway, just for them.

"What do you think?" Cloud asked, leaning over her shoulder.

"I think we're way overdue for a _real_ vacation," Yuffie said, grinning.

* * *

The rest of their friends were gathered around the kitchen table, enjoying a late breakfast. "Man, it feels good to be out of those council robes," Yuffie said. The young ninja, having finished her business in Wutai, had reverted to her usual assortment of skimpy outfits, picking out a dark purple tank top and shorts for the day.

"Didn't look too bad on you, though," Tifa said. "You ever consider dressing nice more often?"

"Hell, no," Yuffie replied, reaching for the breakfast cereal. "I mean, have you ever tried running in one of those things? It's impossible."

"Well, at least we've got the climate for it here," Cid said. "Remember when you tried to climb up the Northern Crater dressed like that?"

"Ugh... don't remind me," Yuffie said. "Worst mistake I ever made."

Even the thought of that journey still made her shiver. She had been forced to make the difficult climb up through the icy mountain range in the freezing cold, cursing herself all the way for not packing anything warmer. She remembered that Tifa had been lightly dressed, as well, but unlike her, she had possessed the foresight to bring a winter coat.

"Really, now?" Barret said, snorting. "I seem to recall that one time you decided to rob an innocent-looking band of strangers, only to get knocked flat on your ass."

"Well... that's different," Yuffie said.

"How so?" Reeve asked.

She looked over at Cloud, taking his hand. He turned to look at her, as well, and they exchanged a smile.

"That was the _best_ mistake I ever made," she said.

* * *

The two girls rested on the beach, watching Denzel and Marlene splashing about in the water, running up and down the beach with Nanaki in tow. The Avalanchers had spent the past few days vacationing, exploring the island, sunbathing, holding outdoor barbecues, and generally enjoying their remaining free time. The tropical paradise's sultry climate left bikinis and shorts the only practical choice of garment, for the most part. They had left their weapons and equipment behind on Cid's airship. There was little need for either here, as there was scarcely another soul around. No worries. No distractions. Perfect.

A little _too_ perfect, almost.

Though she tried her best, Yuffie couldn't bring herself to fully unwind. There was something gnawing away at her, some lingering doubt or worry, though she couldn't tell exactly what it was.

Tifa must have sensed her anxiety. "What's wrong?" she asked, sitting up.

"Nothing," Yuffie said.

Tifa waited, recognizing her friend's reply as the sort of 'nothing' that preceded a real explanation.

Yuffie turned, looking up at the bright blue sky above. "It just seems like.."

She paused, biting her lip. She wasn't sure what it was that was bothering her. Perhaps it was the notion that things were just a little too peaceful. Not that she minded the peace itself, but she was still unable to ease up after everything they had been through together, as though she were still anticipating some new, unforeseen crisis.

"It seems like life's almost a little too easy now, you know?" she said.

"Enjoy it while it lasts," Tifa said. "I'm sure there'll be new fires for us to put out soon enough."

"Yeah... you're right," Yuffie said.

"We've earned this," Tifa said.

"...I guess we did." Yuffie replied. She reached down, picking away at the grains of sand absent-mindedly.

Tifa looked her friend over, sensing that something was still bothering her. "Is everything okay between you and Cloud?" she asked.

"Yeah..." Yuffie said, looking back up. "Couldn't be better."

Things really _were_ great, she thought. Almost perfect, at that. She couldn't remember ever being happier in her life. Being that that was the case, she wondered why it was that she felt so suspicious of their happiness. After all, they had earned it, just like Tifa said. And their victory hadn't come without its share of sacrifices. That much was certain.

So, why was it so hard for her to believe?

She leaned back, closing her eyes again. She tried to think about something else. When that didn't work, she tried not to think of anything at all, which helped, but not much. There was still something missing. Some piece that hadn't yet fallen into place..

* * *

Later that night, everyone was gathered in the summer house's top floor, preparing the night's feast. Yuffie walked around the place, trying to locate Cloud, who had been absent for the better part of the day. Eventually, she spotted him inside their bedroom, seated at the edge of the bed. He had something in his hands, some tiny object she couldn't quite make out. Curious, she tiptoed over in order to catch a glimpse of it.

"What'cha got there?" she asked, peeking over his shoulder.

"Oh, uh... nothing," Cloud said, returning the item to his pocket before she could get a good look at it.

Yuffie frowned. It wasn't like him to keep secrets from her. But lately, he seemed tense, somehow. Distant. She wondered if it had something to do with her, or if she was simply imagining things. Although her curiosity was close to overpowering her, she decided to let the matter be for now. He would tell her eventually, she figured.

"Well, come on," she said, dragging him up off the bed. "It's almost dinner. Also, Reeve said he wanted to show us something."

* * *

Everyone was gathered at the large, round table in the centre of the room. The meal had concluded, and Reeve was busy unrolling various blueprints and structural plans for the others to see.

"What's all this?" Cloud asked, looking at the plans.

"We'll need something bigger than the Seventh Heaven if we're going to open that orphanage I mentioned," Tifa said. "Reeve's offered to help us with that."

"Also, it gave me some new ideas for improvements we could make in the Midgar area," Reeve said, pointing out one of the blueprints. 'The Gainsborough Memorial Hospital', the title said. It was a nice gesture, Cloud thought. Aerith had, after all, been a healing presence in life. Now, the children of Midgar and beyond would receive similar care in her name.

"When do you start?" Yuffie asked.

"Work's already begun," Reeve said. "I'll be overseeing the construction personally. Barret's the acting foreman on-site, and Cid's going to use his new air fleet to co-ordinate the transfer of building materials."

"What about you?" Cloud asked, looking over at Nanaki.

"I'm headed back to Cosmo Canyon," Nanaki said. "I'll be dividing my time between planetary studies and preservation efforts."

"Suffice it to say that we've got a lot of work ahead of us," Reeve said. "Speaking of which... I hear you two are going to be pretty busy in Wutai."

"Looks like it," Cloud said. "I mean, we're not officially part of the government, but we'll still have to play our part."

"Guys, can we not talk about politics for... like, at least the next million years?" Yuffie said. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I've had enough of politics for one lifetime."

"Well, I might have some bad news for you there, princess," Cid said.

She and the others looked up. Cid and Barret had just returned from the Highwind, carrying with them a giant sack full of mail, which they were busy handing out. As the captain spoke, Vincent walked over to her, carrying an envelope. A very official-looking envelope.

"What do you mean?" Yuffie asked. She had a sinking feeling that she already knew what they were about to tell her.

"The votes are in," Vincent said.

"...and?" Yuffie hazarded.

"Congratulations..." Vincent said, handing her the envelope, "Madam President."

Yuffie's face fell. "You're kidding me."

Cid shook his head. "'fraid not."

"It appears you took the popular vote by a landslide," Vincent said.

"What? Why? _How_?" Yuffie asked, stunned.

"Not to make idle guesses," Vincent said, "but it might have something to do with you being the first Wutaian head of state to even consider democracy."

"So, it looks like you're going to have to plant your keister on that throne after all," Cid said. "Just under a different title."

"And with more red tape," Vincent added.

Yuffie sighed. "Great... And here I was, trying to do _less_ politics, not _more_."

"Well, look on the bright side," Reeve said. "At least you won't have to deal with that Toshiro guy any more."

"Why not?" Yuffie asked.

"He got voted off the council," Cid said. "By his own cohorts, no less. Guess you weren't the only one who thought he was a pain in the ass."

"Weird," Yuffie said. "They all seemed to be on his side."

"They probably just didn't have the guts to speak out against him," Cloud said. "Not until you turned up, that is."

Yuffie shook her head, chuckling. "Always a silver lining, huh?"

"Oh, yes... also.. there's going to be a banquet held in Midgar," Vincent said, reading the contents of another letter. "We are 'cordially invited' to take part in it."

"That means 'get your asses over here, pronto'," Cid said.

"Anything else?" Tifa asked.

"It's a black tie event," Vincent said.

"Does that mean we have to dress up again?" Yuffie asked.

"That's what it usually means, yes," Vincent said.

"Wonderful..." the young ninja replied, sighing again. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go."

* * *

That same night, they were back on board the Highwind, headed for Midgar. Cloud stood on the observation deck, having separated from the rest of the group. He took the ring out of his pocket again, turning it between his fingers, examining it.

There was another place they had visited in the time between their departure from and return to Wutai. The Northern Crater. He had requested that Cid drop him off there in order to pick up some 'materials', materials which he had spent his free time carving into the ring he now held in his hands.

He hadn't told her yet. He wasn't sure if he should.

He took out another ring, nearly identical to the first one, from his pocket, holding them close together. They had both been painstakingly carved out of the raw materia crystals taken from the crater's interior. The two objects were normally inert, but when you brought them within proximity of one another, they began to resonate, exhibiting a faint glow, fuelled by the pulse of energy contained within them.

There was the sound of footsteps behind him, as Vincent walked out onto the observation deck. "Something troubling you?" the former Turk asked, noting his friend's distraught state of mind.

Cloud sighed, putting the two rings away. He gripped the railings, staring down into the ocean below. It was a moment before he spoke.

"Vincent..." he said. "Do you think that you should risk something that you have... in order to gain something you desire?"

"Why do you ask?" Vincent asked, moving up next to him, leaning over the railings.

Cloud shook his head. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

He thought about his relationship with Yuffie, and how drastically it had changed within the space of a few weeks. It was not too long ago that he had risked sabotaging their friendship, or changing it into something awkward when he asked her out. But things had turned out better than he had hoped. Now, he was about to do the same thing again. But at the same time, he was afraid that it might be too soon.

Vincent must have noticed as much. The former Turk had always been good at reading people, and right now, he might as well have been an open book.

"I can't say for sure," Vincent said. "These things are never easy, or certain. Nothing in life is."

He rose up again, walking towards the entrance. Before he stepped back inside the ship, however, he turned back one last time. "But for what it's worth... I think you should take the risk," he said. "You might end up regretting it. But I guarantee you'll regret it far more if you don't."

"Speaking from experience there?" Cloud asked.

"...Yes," Vincent said as he departed.

* * *

The following evening, everyone was gathered in the hotel reception hall. There were several hundred guests, all of them eager to shake hands with Wutai's newly elected head of state. Yuffie sported a black cocktail dress, which Tifa had helped her to pick out. Although she had protested the idea all the way, she looked stunning in it. She also looked a bit flustered, not quite comfortable with being the center of attention. The other Avalanchers were spread about the vast room, sipping their drinks and mingling with the other guests.

"Hang on a minute," Barret said. "I thought she got herself kicked off the council."

"The _old_ council, yes," Reeve replied. "There's no rules against them voting her into the _new_ one."

"That's politics for ya," Cid said, shrugging.

"Indeed... It looks like she and Cloud are going to have to deal with plenty of politics from now on," Vincent said.

"Politics _and_ tradition," Nanaki added, looking over at Yuffie. "Your two favourite things in the world, yes?"

"...Shoot me now," Yuffie said.

"Well, I suppose you could always fake your own death.." Cid mused, rubbing his chin.

"Hmmm..." Yuffie said, glancing up at the ceiling, pondering his words. She seemed to be giving the idea serious consideration.

"Cid, don't give her any ideas," Reeve said. "Wutai needs her right now."

"Drat," Yuffie said.

* * *

Outside, Cloud paced the hallway, looking restless and anxious as he waited for the right moment.

"Nervous?" Tifa asked.

Cloud nodded, but said nothing.

"It'll be fine," Tifa reassured him. "I just know it."

She walked over, handing him a small, velvet box. She smiled, hugging her childhood friend tight.

"Good luck," she said.

* * *

"So, Mr. Ex-Turk. Got any big plans for the future?" Cid asked.

He and Vincent stood next to the punch bowl, refilling their drinks. The captain had just finished 'enhancing' the beverage with his own concoction, which seemed to be helping along the conversations being carried out throughout the room.

"None to speak of," Vincent said. "Reeve offered me an executive position at his company. I told him I'd think about it. I'm not interested in a sinecure, per se... But I suppose I'll find something to do with my time."

"Glad to hear it," Cid said.

"Well... I guess this is it," Vincent said, as Cloud and Tifa returned to the reception hall.

It was growing late, and the banquet was winding down. As Yuffie said goodbye to the last of her guests, her friends gathered around, forming a circle around her, looking as though they were all waiting for something. Once again, she found herself the center of attention.

"What's going on?" Yuffie asked, as Cloud approached her.

Without replying, he took her hand, going down on one knee. She gasped as she realized what was happening.

"I don't know where to begin, but.." Cloud said. He had never been particularly good with words. He hoped the right ones would come to him now.

"Two years ago, I met someone. Someone special. Someone unforgettable. We've travelled together. Fought together. Lived together. And these past few weeks that we've been together have been some of the best days of my life."

He paused, thinking of what to say next. He had been worried that he would end up faltering, but somehow, what he wanted to say became clearer in his mind as he spoke.

"There hasn't been a dull moment in my life since you walked into it. And it's only when I'm with you that I feel truly alive. I can't imagine life without you."

He waited for another moment, before delivering the closing words.

"Yuffie Kisaragi," he said, looking up into her eyes. "I love you. Will you marry me?"

Her eyes grew wide, and she held a hand against her face as he brought out the small box, revealing the handcrafted ring inside.

Yuffie was left speechless. Her face grew red, and she trembled, looking like she was about to cry.

There was a long silence. A moment suspended in time.

"No.." she finally said. She drew her hand from her face. She hadn't been crying, but stifling a laugh.

Cloud froze, looking as though he'd just been hit by a train. "Oh.." he managed, turning his gaze to the floor. He had meant to say something more, but that was all that came out.

The rest of Avalanche was thunderstruck, as well. Given how well their relationship had been going up until now, they hadn't expected to hear anything other than a resounding 'yes'.

Yuffie, seeing Cloud's reaction, knelt down next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "No, silly," she said. "I _can't_. You have to be twenty-one to get married in Wutai."

Cloud looked up at her again, completely dumbfounded.

"You _knew_ that, right?" Yuffie asked.

She laughed, caressing his cheek, gently running her fingers through his hair. "C'mere," she said, pulling him into a tight hug.

Cloud returned the hug, still dumbstruck. He _hadn't_ known, and surely there had been no-one around to tell him.

They stayed that way for a long moment, kneeling on the confetti-strewn floor, caught in each other's embrace. He couldn't see it, but there were tears streaming down her cheeks now.

* * *

It was decided that the kind of shock that their dear leader had just suffered, intentional or not, was best handled with copious amounts of alcohol. And so, the Avalanchers found themselves back at the Seventh Heaven, occupying the whole row of stools at the front of the bar.

"Wait..." Reeve said. "So what about all those suitors you've been scaring off? Weren't they trying to marry you, too?"

"Well, technically, it's more like a marriage contract," Yuffie explained. "It wouldn't actually take effect until I'm twenty-one."

"A marriage _contract_?" Cid said. "Yeesh. It's no wonder you chased those creeps off."

"You could have told me, at least," Cloud said to his friends.

Cid shrugged. "The fuck do _we_ know about Wutai marriage laws?" the captain replied.

"Man... You should'a seen the look on his face," Barret said to Yuffie. "Well, I guess you did, but... _damn_. I thought he was going to die right there on the spot. I've never seen the kid so devastated."

"I didn't do it to be mean. Honest," Yuffie said, patting her boyfriend on the shoulder. "I just... I'm sorry. It came out wrong, you know?"

After repeat assurances that, yes, they were still very much an item, she leaned in a little closer. "Ask me again in a couple of years, I might just say yes," she said with a wink.

"Your father's not going to oppose the union?" Vincent asked.

"I think he knows not to risk it," Tifa said.

"Shee-it," Barret said. "Anybody comin' between these two is just askin' for a world of hurt."

"Well, here's to _not_ getting married," Cid said, raising his glass.

"I'll drink to that," Cloud said.

"Yeah, you look like you need it," Cid said, dodging just in time to avoid the customary swipe at his head.

_"I'm gettin' good at this shit,"_ the captain thought, grinning.

"Cheers," Reeve said, raising his glass.

"Cheers," the others repeated, raising a toast.

* * *

A few drinks later, Yuffie and Tifa excused themselves from the after-party, heading to the bathroom to freshen up. As the two of them stood in front of the long mirror, Yuffie cast her gaze downwards, looking as though she needed to get something off her chest.

"You know... I thought I was going to die, too," she said to Tifa. "I never imagined in a million years that he was that serious about us. About me.."

"...You're not happy about it?" Tifa asked.

"You kidding?" Yuffie replied, looking up at her. "I can't wait until he asks me again."

Tifa smiled. "Glad to hear it," she said walking over to her friend. "Just... don't give him a hard time, okay?" she added, placing a hand on Yuffie's shoulder. "If you do, I may have to come over and regulate."

Though her warning wasn't intended as serious, Yuffie knew that Tifa would no doubt live up to it, if it came to that. Not that she had anything to be worried about.

"Cross my heart," Yuffie replied, making the requisite motions. Tifa had to watch her to make sure, but as far as she could tell, there were no crossed fingers this time.

"Come on," she said. "Let's get back to the party."

* * *

"All right, Spikes. Fess up. You're just after her for her money," Cid said, nudging Cloud's shoulder.

Cloud shook his head. "If you really believe that, Cid, then I'd say you don't know me very well."

"And he's a poet, too," Cid said. "Whouda thunk it?"

"You're drunk," Cloud said.

"Damn straight," Cid replied, downing his drink, before slamming his glass back on the counter, gesturing for a refill.

The two girls emerged from the bathroom. Yuffie walked back over to the bar, giving Cloud a peck on the cheek as she sat down next to him again. "Miss me?" she asked.

"Always," Cloud replied.

They sat and talked for a while as they finished their drinks. Then, after only a few minutes, she stood up again. "Well, I'm off," she said, heading for the exit.

"Where are you going?" Cloud asked.

"I thought I might go out for a stroll," Yuffie said. "You know... pass a few hours in quiet contemplation, think deep thoughts about the meaning of life.."

She walked back over to where Cloud was sitting, leaning in a little closer, whispering. "Or... we could always go back my place, if you feel like getting in some practice for our wedding night.." she said in a teasing voice. She drew back, winking at him, a familiar, impish grin plastered on her face.

Cloud couldn't help but smile. "Is that a 'yes'?" he asked.

"...Maybe," Yuffie replied, playfully twisting the word, teasing him.

He got up, escorting her to the exit. She paused in the doorway, turning back to him, leaning in closer. Cloud leaned in as well, closing his eyes. He was startled when, instead of the kiss he was expecting, he found her finger pressed against his lips.

"Catch me if you can," Yuffie said, sticking her tongue out at him, before bolting out through the door, disappearing into the night.

Cloud chuckled, turning to his friends, who were still drinking and celebrating. "I'll see you guys later," he said.

_"Much later,"_ he thought, as he exited the bar.

The revelries continued well into the night, while he chased after his princess. They gave themselves over to the game, forgetting themselves in the moment. They both knew that, whatever was coming next, they were done waiting for life to happen.

It had been a long struggle, but it finally seemed as though everything had come together in just the right way. Everything it had taken to get here. Their failures and their victories. The good times and the bad. The friends they had lost and gained along the way. The heartache and the sacrifices. Everything they had come through in order to win a life of their own. A good life.

A life worth living.

**The End**

* * *

**Afterword**

So, this story turned out to be a bit longer than I'd originally anticipated. "Waiting" was originally intended as a quick one-off, about two to three thousand words, at most. It was simply going to be titled "At the Movies" or something like that. But as I wrote it, it seemed like there was a bigger story to be told. Admittedly, there's not much of a plot here. No villains, at least not any earth-shaking ones. This story is intended as the denouement, after all. But then again, plot is subordinate to story, and, all other things being equal, one should try to favour the latter over the former, I think.

(Also, it's admittedly quite saccharine and extremely nostalgia-tinted. I thought that these oft-abused characters deserved a Big Fat Happy Ending for once. So sue me.)

A few words on symmetry: I like symmetry in storytelling, as you can probably tell. I wouldn't say that I had everything planned to the nth degree, but there were a few things that were planned in advance, such as how the story begins and ends in the Seventh Heaven bar, has seven chapters, starts off with "The Answer", ends with "The Question" and so on. It's not part of some grand design. I just thought it was neat. These things might seem too obvious to merit pointing out, I suppose, but if there's any doubt about it, it _is_ by design.

When I started piecing this thing together, I often had em-witchwood's story, "Tomorrow Will Come", in mind. In some respects, "Waiting" simply feels like a longer version of that story. Anyway, I recommend you go check it out, if you enjoy this pairing. As for myself, I'll be turning my focus fully back to "Through the Ashes of Empires" from now on, with the aim of finishing that story in the coming months, if and when I have time to work on it. After that, I'll be going on hiatus, possibly for good.

Well, thanks for reading. 'till next time, then.


End file.
